Descent into Darkness
by Nephthys18
Summary: Who was Regulus Black? Why did he become a Death Eater? Taking a look at his fifth year at Hogwarts.
1. Chapter 1

Descent into Darkness

By Nephthys18 and Shashi

Disclaimer: We do not own the characters or world that is used in this story. They were created originally by J.K. Rowling. The authors did, however, take creative license with most of the characters and completely invented others. The story itself is entirely a fabrication of the authors' imaginations and is meant for entertainment only.

**Okay so this is my second attempt to complete a story and this time I think I will be able to do it! My sister has kindly consented to help me by writing the parts of the story from Regulus' point of view. **

**I always liked Sirius Black and the fact that his brother had strayed so far from him had always intrigued me. What happened? So this is my explanation. I am trying to stay somewhat accurate to the information that J.K. Rowling has provided, but it won't be perfect so feel free to correct me! I hope you enjoy this as much as I have!**

Chapter 1: The Peacemaker

Regulus Aneurin Black was lying on his bed listening to the shouts as they floated up the stairs. He glanced at his watch. 9:47 and they were already fighting. Knowing it was useless, he shoved a pillow over his head to try and block out the noise. 9:53, he could almost recite the whole argument along with them.

First his mother's screeching voice: "Sirius Black! You will do no such thing!"

Then his brother's rebuttal: "You can't tell me what to do anymore! If you haven't noticed, I'm 17 which means I can do whatever the hell I want!"

Oh wow. This time he used the word "hell"; that was _really_ going out on a limb. Regulus rolled his eyes then rolled his body out of bed. Sirius had been 17 a grand total of four days; and ever since that fateful day he had been fighting to visit his friend, James Potter. Why the age made such a big difference was beyond Regulus, but at least now they had something in particular to fight about.

James Potter had been Sirius's best friend practically ever since they started school. James was a pure-blood, which—for some reason that neither of the Black boys really understood—was important; but he wasn't the typical pure-blooded wizard (i.e. he didn't hate muggles with a burning, undying passion). Regulus had never particularly cared for James, not because he wasn't the typical pure-blooded wizard, but because…well, there were a number of reasons.

"That also means I don't have to let you live in this house anymore!" Were they to that part already? Regulus must have really slept in this morning. He'd better go down for breakfast before they started throwing curses (which had never actually happened, but he wouldn't put it past them).

Regulus glanced at a mirror on his way down and stopped to run fingers through his hair and, well…stall a little bit. He was still on the scrawny side, but he'd bulked up a bit since school let out in the spring. His hair was as dark as his brother's, but his eyes weren't nearly so dark or so piercing. No, Regulus Black lacked the physical intensity of his sibling, but he made up for it in…well, he felt there must be _something_.

"Just because I don't agree with your pure-blood supremacism?" Sirius bellowed, interrupting Regulus's thoughts. "I don't want to live here anyway!" Regulus debated whether he should go downstairs; Sirius was bound to storm up any time now.

"Why can't you be more like your brother?" his mum sighed. "He would never…" she continued talking but Regulus stopped listening. Damn it! Why did she have to bring him into it?

Regulus raced downstairs just in time to hear his brother say, "Oh, yes, my baby brother, Regulus. Isn't he just the perfect little pure-blood you always hoped he would be? Well, I've got news for you, mother—"

"Good morning," Regulus broke in. Sirius turned around and gave him an apologetic look, which Regulus shrugged off. He knew Sirius hadn't meant it.

"Good morning," his mother said absently, still glaring at her eldest child.

"It's nice to see you two are up and fighting," Regulus continued, trying to lighten the atmosphere. "What's it about this time?" He would have punched himself to take back those last words.

"Fighting? We're not fighting," Sirius said, adopting a particularly provocative branch of sarcasm. "_Mother_ was just about to explain why she's a tyrannical muggle-hater. _Do_ go on, mother. We're on the edge of our seats."

"Oh that's cute!" their mother said, and the argument raged up again. She was a handsome woman, but one wouldn't call her beautiful, especially when she was in this state of mind, which she often was. One tended to forget her comparatively small size when she looked enraged and half-mad. Sirius, on the other hand, could never look diminutive; sometimes Regulus felt he consciously made use of his daunting figure.

"I don't know why I even bother," Regulus said to himself under their shouts. "Nobody ever listens. But god! If they would just shut up for two seconds! I would _kill_ for some peace and quiet around here!"

"What are _you_ muttering about?"

"Nothing!" Regulus said quickly. "I was just—"

"Don't talk to your brother in that tone!" his screeching mother interrupted. So much for favoritism; she didn't even let him get a sentence out!

Regulus began to wonder if he should just get up and walk out; _that_ would make a statement…assuming of course they actually noticed. And if they did they would probably take their anger out on him, which might actually be a nice change. But then again, who wants to be yelled at? No, it was probably better to just wait it out. He wondered if this was what it felt like to be a ship captain in the middle of a hurricane. Not exactly, he reasoned, the middle would be the eye of the storm and that wouldn't really be bad at all; no, this was more like being somewhere along the rim of a hurricane, but not close enough to the edge to make it out. Regulus didn't know where he was going with this.

"Well fine, then I'm leaving!" Sirius yelled, throwing Regulus out of his stupor. Apparently the argument had gone on without him. "And good riddance to all of you!" He stormed out of the kitchen, slamming doors and stomping. The silence echoed.

Regulus cleared his throat. "Well, that was, er…"

"Your brother is the most stubborn human being on the face of this planet!" his mother declared angrily. She might have been right, but if it came down to it, Regulus would probably put money on _her_ as being the most stubborn. She went off tearing around the room, picking up piles of paper and putting them somewhere else, making believe that she was tidying up. In the corner, Kreacher stared forlornly at the mess she was making. The whole time she was spewing out a monologue against all things Sirius.

Regulus waited for her to pause to catch her breath before he tried to speak, "But you don't _really_ want him to leave, do you?" He prayed silently that she would at least _say_ she didn't, whether or not it was true.

"It doesn't matter _what_ I think!" she said, going back to shifting papers; this time with less ferocity. "He's 17. He's in charge of his own life now."

"You mean, you're just gonna let him leave!" Regulus exclaimed, jumping to his feet. She couldn't be serious. She was just angry; she wouldn't actually…when he thought about it Regulus realized that, in fact, she _would_ just let him go.

"What do you want me to do, Regulus?" she demanded, throwing a stack of magazines to the ground. Regulus stared gloomily at the fallen papers. "Do you expect me to just go up there and tell him I'm _sorry_ and I don't _want_ him to go and I _respect_ his delinquent friends and his _feelings_?"

"Yes!" Regulus said, looking up. "Yes, that's exactly what I expect you to do!"

"Oh, Regulus," she said, smiling and shaking her head at him like he was an agitated child that she had to console. "One day you'll understand that the world doesn't just work out for you like that."

Regulus wanted to shout at her and break something. He wanted to say: "Well this _isn't_ 'one day', this is now! And right _now_ I want to know exactly _why_ you are just going to sit here on your ass and let your teenage son go off on some mad escapade by himself? What _exactly_ do you plan on doing to fix this? How _exactly_ do you hope to explain to your grandchildren why you refuse to be in the same room as their father? Tell me, mother! What the hell do you plan to do about this?"

But he didn't say that. Instead he lied: "You're right, mum. I'm sure that someday this will all make sense to me." She smiled and ruffled his hair.

"You go on now," she said warmly, looking at him like he was an adorable puppy who had just learned to play dead. "You don't have to sit around in this smelly old kitchen with your mother all day." Regulus forced a smile and went back upstairs, still feeling like a rat, and trying not to run. At least _she_ was happy. Now what was he going to do with Sirius?

He got to Sirius's door with every intention of bursting in and _demanding_ that he stay at Grimmauld Place and apologize to their mother (even if she didn't deserve it). But he hesitated, hand suspended above the door. Should he knock? He did so rather tentatively; then louder to make sure Sirius heard.

"What?" Sirius snapped on the other side of the wooden barrier. Regulus suddenly felt incredibly stupid for coming.

He felt increasingly stupid when he tried to explain his presence, "Er, it's Regulus. I was just wondering…I, uh…I didn't mean to—" Sirius threw the door open before he could finish, assuming he'd have been able to.

"No, it's okay. Come on in." He stepped aside and let Regulus in; then shut the door quickly behind him. Regulus felt his stomach twist like a slug in a boiling cauldron. Sirius's trunk was out and half-filled with wrinkled clothes. Half his drawers had been pulled out, and all sorts of miscellaneous crap was strewn across the floor and bed. Regulus had a pretty good feeling that Sirius wasn't cleaning out his closet.

"Thought you were mum," Sirius said, grinning. Regulus took a deep breath and forced another smile.

"So…you're really leaving then?" he asked, trying to keep his voice steady. Sitting on the bed, he felt unpleasantly warm and nauseous. Ignorant of his brother's feelings, Sirius shot a dirty look at the door and nodded.

"I'm sick of that bitch! She's done nothing but nag at me all summer. Actually, she's done nothing but nag at me my whole life! I can't take her pure-blood supremacism crap anymore." Glowering, Sirius stuffed more clothes into his trunk. If he folded them properly he probably could have fit more in there…but that wasn't important now.

"You know she doesn't know any better," Regulus tried. Sometimes showing Sirius the other side of the story worked. Sometimes it didn't. "She grew up in a different time, and er…back then being pure-blooded—"

Sirius laughed harshly. "Yeah, that's it. In case you haven't noticed, in this family, being pure-blooded is _still_ a big deal! And it's just plain stupid!" 'Ridiculous' was the word he was looking for, but Regulus didn't say anything; it _was_ ridiculous. But Sirius was also overreacting. "And if you think I'm just gonna sit around and listen to her—"

"Okay, I get it already!" Regulus snapped. Sirius could go on for half an hour on that subject; Regulus had heard him do it. "Sorry I brought it up!" A long silence followed. "So," said Regulus slowly, "you're staying with James then?" He needed to change the subject, but the words almost stuck in his throat.

"For now," said Sirius, slamming his trunk closed.

"Sounds like you have it all planned out then," Regulus said quietly. Sirius looked over at him and sighed.

"I know all this fighting is hard on you, Reg," Sirius began. He had no idea. "But I just can't stand her!" Apparently he thought that Regulus could. "But, hey, I'll make it up to you, okay?" Regulus nodded. He sincerely doubted that Sirius could _ever_ make it up to him. It was all good and well for _Sirius_ to leave, but what about Regulus? What was _he_ supposed to do left alone with their parents for the three weeks until school began? Lia was on vacation in Africa somewhere, and Vlad was…where _was_ Vlad? As if reading his thoughts, Sirius said, "Hey, send me an owl sometime and maybe we can hang."

"Okay," said Regulus, watching Sirius shake out some floo powder and walk over to the fireplace. He knew that even if he _did_ send an owl, Sirius wouldn't bother to send one back; he was a notoriously bad pen pal. "Sirius—" he began, but Sirius had winked and was gone.

Regulus sighed and flopped back onto the bed. If only there was some way he could make things right. Sighing again, he shook away the thought; he would never be able to, so he should just stop dreaming. That's all he was, really: a dreamer. Sirius was a doer—he didn't like living here, so he left. Regulus was just…there to pick up the pieces and clean up the mess. He was a piece-picker-upper. No! Not this year! This year would be different. No more fixing other people's problems; they could figure it out themselves or just deal with it!

He glanced at the door. He should probably go down and see if he could comfort his mother. Deep down—really deep down—she was probably very upset that Sirius was gone. And Sirius really _was_ gone. But it was only for a few weeks, Regulus reminded himself. What the hell was he going to do when Sirius left for good? He tried (and failed) not to think about it.

Regulus looked over at the crackling fire that had just engulfed his brother and taken him away. Sighing yet again, Regulus walked to the door. This was going to be a very long year.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **It's all J.K. Rowling's….

_Authors note: Okay, so I know that Sirius leaves home at 16, but I really need him to be 17 for this story so I'm sorry! Thank you __Loki Mischeif-Maker__ for pointing out this mistake! This is the first chapter that will be through my original character's point of view so I hope you like it! Also before I start I am going to warn you that I have Remus Lupin as the Head Boy. I know! In the first book Hagrid said that James was the Head Boy, but in the 5th Sirius tells Harry that Lupin was made the prefect so it never really made sense to me that James was Head Boy. Anyways it's not really that important to the story but I just wanted to give everyone a heads up. _

Lia smiled and took in all of the marvelous sights and sounds of Platform Nine and Three Quarters. She should be used to it all by now, it was her fifth year, but nothing compared with the excitement of un-harnessed magic that filled the station. Sure, she had practically grown up at the Ministry of Magic, her father being the head of The Department of International Magical Cooperation, but the magic there was always so…. contained.

She glanced at the crowd, seeing plenty of familiar faces but not seeing the one she wanted to see the most. Where was he? He had promised to meet her here a few minutes early so that they could catch up a little before they went to the prefects meeting. She sighed. She should've expected it. Regulus was never anywhere on time, let alone early.

Bang! A huge deafening noise filled the station, causing many people to scream. Lia jumped a little and turned towards the noise. She rolled her eyes. There was poor Peter Pettigrew, a rather short, chubby, blonde boy, all covered in soot. He held a colorful box in his hand that had obviously held some sort of explosive. A tall boy with jet black hair that stuck out in every direction was standing next to him, laughing hysterically. James Potter patted poor Peter on the back and grinned broadly. "Sorry mate! That package was meant for Filch!" Peter smiled slightly, but was obviously a little put out by this prank.

"What happened here?" A very familiar voice called out. James grinned broadly and turned to meet the boy walking over to them. He was even taller than James, his long dark hair falling attractively over his face. Lia noticed a few girls gaze longingly at him. She just shook her head. She could understand why almost all of the girls at Hogwarts were in love with Sirius Black. He was smart, funny, athletic, and cute. His roguish charms causing even the older girls to fall for him.

She, however, could only see him as the little boy who used to torture her and Regulus when they were younger. She could still remember the time that he had locked her and Regulus into the broom cupboard when they were five and refused to let them out until Regulus had agreed to clean his room for a month. But that had been a long time ago; he barely talked to her now.

She smiled grudgingly as she watched Sirius' face light up after taking in the situation. "This has got to be a new record. I don't think anyone has pulled off a prank before even getting on the train!" Yep, he was the same as he was when he was five.

"Who are those despicable boys?" Lia's mother exclaimed coming up behind her. Lia bit down her smile and turned to face her. As usual, her mother's stern, yet stunningly beautiful presence was noted by everyone around them.

At the moment, however, her usually smooth forehead was creased and her steely grey eyes were narrowed. "Is that Sirius Black?" she continued giving him a look of disgust. Lia nodded. Mrs. Braulio shook her head and sighed sadly. "Such a shame. It's no wonder his mother kicked him out of the house. Best to get a rotten egg like that as far away from young Regulus as you can."

"Sirius got kicked out of his house!" Lia exclaimed, horrified. Her mother nodded.

"Oh yes, didn't I tell you? His mother sent me an owl about a month ago. She was so very grieved that her eldest son had turned out to be such a…. delinquent! And really it's no wonder. I knew he was a bad egg as soon as he got put into Gryffindor."

Lia choked back a laugh. Less than a year ago her mother had been talking about what a "wonderful, handsome boy" Sirius had become and that she should "definitely keep an eye on that one".

"Mrs. Braulio! Lia! Hey." Lia looked on in horror as Sirius walked over to them, smiling and waving. She felt her mother stiffen next to her.

"Hi Sirius," Lia said softly. Her mother glared at her.

"Lia, don't talk to that boy! Come along." Her mother grabbed her arm and began to pull her away, but not before Lia saw the hurt look on Sirius' face. The look vanished quickly, however, and was replaced by a cold hardened look. Lia's mother tugged at her arm again and when she looked back at Sirius he had disappeared into the crowd.

"You didn't have to say that, Mum," Lia whispered as she was dragged towards the train. Her mother paused and looked down at her, her eyes flashing dangerously. When she saw her daughters face, however, she sighed and her expression softened.

"Lia, he is not a good boy. I know it's hard, especially since you two grew up together, but things change. He's hanging out in a dangerous crowd and I really don't want you talking to him anymore. Okay?" Her mother looked at her hopefully but Lia couldn't bring herself to make that promise. She shrugged and her mother patted her arm and smiled. Apparently she felt that a shrug was the same thing as a nod.

Lia's mother stopped as they approached the entrance to the train. She sighed and looked down at her daughter. She frowned slightly as she took in Lia's untidy appearance. Lia blushed. She had been running late that morning and was not exactly looking her best. "Lia…" her mother began softly. Lia groaned.

"Okay, I know, I'm not exactly looking my best today, but I was in a rush." Her mother pursed her lips together, obviously trying to keep her temper.

"Honey, I thought we'd had this conversation before! What did I tell you? Do you remember?" Lia nodded. She definitely remembered that conversation. At the beginning of the summer her mother had sat her down and pretty much told her that she was turning into a woman and needed to put more care into her appearance. But it was so damn annoying sometimes!

Lia was never one to spend hours in front of a mirror. She had much more important things to do. But that had never stopped her mother from pestering her about it. No, Mrs. Braulio was a perfectionist. Every morning she spent over an hour on her hair, making sure that not a strand was out of place. Then she spent at least another half hour on makeup, making her one of the most desirable witches in the world. Of course her natural beauty played an important part in this, but Lia's mother was convinced that if Lia would only try a little harder she could be even more beautiful than she was.

Lia sincerely doubted this however. While her mother was tall and thin, Lia was barely over five-three and had a much more rounded chest and bottom. Her mothers hair was a beautiful espresso brown color, while her own was more the color of milk chocolate. Mrs. Braulio had clear, olive skin, whereas Lia's face was marred by a sprinkling of freckles. Lia did, however, love her eyes. True, her mother's steely grey eyes were striking, but Lia's eyes were a deep royal blue that could take your breath away.

"Hey," a deep voice from behind her woke Lia up from her thoughts. She squealed with delight as she turned to face….Vlad. She tried to keep her disappointment hidden as she threw her arms around his neck.

"Hey you!" she said, stepping back to get a better look at him. Vlad wasn't exactly handsome, but he wasn't ugly either. His dirty blonde hair was, as usual, covering half his face and his muddy brown eyes were glinting mischievously. "Wow! You're tall!"

"Thanks!" Vlad laughed. "You've grown too, but in different ways," he said grinning, his eyes wandering down from her face. She quickly closed her robes and nodded. Now she remembered why she and Vlad didn't always get along. "So do you wanna get a compartment?" he asked. Lia glanced over at her mother who was currently in a conversation with Vlad's father and nodded.

"Bye Mom," she called as she turned to get onto the train.

"Uh uh, you are not about to get onto that train without giving your mother a hug!" Lia groaned as her mother pulled her into a hug and kissed her forehead. "Remember lovie, you are so beautiful, don't be afraid to show it every once in a while," she whispered. Lia nodded and squeezed her mother tighter. As annoying as she was Lia was really going to miss her.

"I love you Mom," she whispered back and she turned and followed Vlad onto the train.

They walked along the corridor searching for an empty compartment. "So what were you up to this summer?" Lia asked after a minute of awkward silence.

Vlad pushed the hair out of his face and looked down at her. "Ummm well I went up to Scotland to visit my Uncle and then….. I pretty much hung out in Diagon Ally. What about you?"

"Oh! Well Dad had to go to Egypt for a conference so we stayed there for pretty much the whole summer. It was a lot of fun. Mom and Dad were always busy so I got to go anywhere I wanted." Vlad nodded and headed towards a compartment. Lia sincerely doubted he had heard a word she had just said.

"This one okay?" he asked. Lia nodded and sat down. She bit her lip as all conversation came to a dead halt. Vlad was staring out the window tapping his wand on the seat next to him. Lia sat and watched him, glancing at the corridor every once in a while in hope that Regulus would be there.

She sighed. Why was this so difficult? She and Vlad had been friends for almost five years now and yet they couldn't carry on a conversation for more than five minutes.

After several more minutes of awkward silence Lia decided it was time to head over to the Prefects meeting. "Well I have to go to a Prefects meeting, so I guess I will see you after that," Lia said as she stood up and slid open the compartment door.

She walked down the hall towards the Prefect's compartment, for the first time feeling a little nervous. She had assumed she would be going to the meeting with Regulus, but since he hadn't shown up… She took a deep breath and slid open the door.

"Lia!" A tall, blonde-haired Gryffindor exclaimed. "Come on in." He stepped aside so that she could enter. She was surprised that Remus knew her name. She of course knew his; he was one of the infamous marauders and the Head Boy. She had spoken to him a few times over the years, but never enough to merit this sort of attention.

"Hi Remus," she replied as he led her towards an empty seat. "Sorry I'm late." Remus smiled and glanced at the rest of the compartment, which was pretty much empty.

"Believe me, you're definitely not the last one." Lia smiled, slightly embarrassed, and nodded. She slid into her seat, and to her surprise Remus sat down next to her. "I won't lie, I was very relieved that you and Regulus were made Prefects," he said. "I really didn't want to deal with two more snot nosed Slytherins who won't listen to me," he glanced pointedly at Brian and Stephanie, Slytherin's sixth year prefects.

Lia grinned. "Thank you?" she replied. Remus laughed but was quickly distracted by the entrance of the Hufflepuff Prefects.

Lia's eyes followed him as he greeted them and showed them to their seats. She liked Remus. He was so easy to talk to, even for her. She didn't usually feel comfortable talking with older students. They always seemed so intimidating, but Remus was different. He was…nice.

After a few minutes Remus went to the front of the compartment and cleared his throat. "Everyone," he called, waiting for the compartment to be silent. It didn't work, however, everyone was talking as much as ever. Remus frowned. "Oy! Shut up!" he yelled. Achieving the desired effect, Remus began. "Hi everyone, my name is Remus Lupin and I am your Head Boy this year. The first thing we need to do is call role." He turned and glanced over at the pretty red-headed girl standing next to him who handed him a clipboard. "Thanks, Lily," he said looking down at the list.

Lia felt a wave of panic wash over her. Where was Regulus? "Okay, tell me if I pronounce your name wrong," Remus was saying up at the front of the room. Lia glanced nervously at the door, willing Regulus to suddenly appear. "Mary Kipwell," Remus read. A pretty blonde Hufflepuff girl raised her hand. Lia bit her lip, her eyes drifting towards the door again. "Brandon McKay," Remus continued. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the Hufflepuff boy next to Mary raise his hand. "Rosalia Braulio," Remus said glancing over at her. She raised her hand. Remus smiled at her and looked back down at his list. "Here it comes," Lia thought as Remus read the next name. "Regulus Black."

There was a slight pause before the compartment door burst open. Lia felt her heart flutter as a huffing and puffing Regulus stepped into the room. "Sorry!" he exclaimed as he tried to make his way over to Lia as inconspicuously as possible. Remus laughed.

"Way to make an entrance Reggie," Remus said and he placed a check mark next to his name. Lia didn't know whether to kiss him because she was so glad to see him, or hit him because he had been so late.

"Nice of you to show up," she whispered, trying to sound stern. Regulus sighed and ran his fingers through his long black hair.

"Don't even get me started," he whispered back, still breathing hard. Lia couldn't help but smile. Regulus was finally here! She tentatively put her hand on his arm.

"I missed you this summer," she said softly. She felt a thrill as he turned and smiled at her.

"I missed you too," he replied. Lia's heart skipped a beat as she looked up at his beautiful brown eyes. He had grown a lot since she the last time she had seen him. She stared at him for a second, before realizing what she was doing. She blushed slightly and looked away.

"Wow," Regulus said, looking her up and down. "You look different." Lia frowned slightly, not sure if this was meant as a compliment. Regulus seemed to read her mind and continued, "It's a good thing." Lia smiled, he knew her so well sometimes. "I've never seen so many freckles!" Or maybe he didn't.

"So how was Egypt?" Regulus asked, obviously oblivious to the fact that he had just insulted her.

"Fine," Lia muttered, trying to appear angry and failing miserably. Regulus nodded and looked expectantly at her.

"Did you do anything?" he finally asked. Lia bit back a smile and rolled her eyes.

"Yes!" Regulus nodded, still staring at her. She tried to pay attention to what Remus was saying, but couldn't. "I got to explore the pyramids and meet some people and stuff," she finally told him.

"Oh," Regulus replied, obviously unimpressed. "Sounds like fun." Lia sighed.

"I'll tell you more about it after the meeting." Regulus grinned and turned his attention to the front of the compartment.

"Alright, now that everyone has been introduced, I'll turn things over to Lily," Remus was saying. Every boy in the compartment was suddenly paying attention to the meeting as Lily Evans took the stage.

"Thanks Remus," Lily said. She smiled, flashing her pearly white teeth and continued. "For those of you that don't know me, my name is Lily Evans and I'm going to be your Head Girl. Now there are a couple of things you need to know…"

Lia was surprised by the silence in the compartment. When Remus was talking there were scattered conversations everywhere, but not now. She turned to say something to Regulus about it. "Hey Reggie," she began, but he paid her no heed. He was staring intently at the front of the compartment, a sort of glazed expression on his face.

Lia felt the jealousy rising up in her. Why was everyone so interested in her? Ever since Lia had entered Hogwarts she'd heard "Lily this" and "Lily Evans that". Her eyes narrowed as she looked over at Lily. She wasn't even that pretty. Her hair was so…. red and her skin was way too pale. Her eyes were too big (although she had to admit they were a pretty color) and she was short!

Lia was awakened from her musings when Regulus nudged her. "Pay attention," he whispered nodding up at the podium. Lia glared at Lily, but managed to listen to what she was saying.

"Last year we assigned each of the Prefects a night to walk the corridors, and make sure everyone was in bed. We, Remus and I, feel that this put too much responsibility on one person so we've come up with a different plan. Each of you will be assigned a section of the castle that you are responsible for. Every night at 9:00 you will need to patrol your section and make sure everything is okay. We understand that there will be nights that you're unable to do this; maybe you have too much homework or something. When this happens you are responsible for finding someone else to check on your corridor. Do you all understand?"

Everyone nodded and Lily smiled. "Well other than that you just need to keep other students in line and set a good example. Is that everything?" she looked over at Remus who shrugged. "Okay, I guess that's it then. See you all around."

Everyone stood up and began to file out of the room, murmurs of conversation starting up again. Lia and Regulus made their way towards the door when Lily's voice again filled the room.

"Wait, wait! Sorry just one more thing! Make sure you check your house bulletin boards for future events and meetings!" Everyone continued filing out of the compartment completely ignoring her. Lia gave a satisfied smirk at this and turned back towards Regulus.

"So, do you wanna get a compartment?" Regulus asked as they stepped out into the hall.

"Yeah, I was sitting with Vlad earlier, but I can't remember which compartment that was." Regulus nodded and they made there way down the corridor.

"Lia, wait!" Remus' voice echoed down the corridor. Lia froze. What did Remus want with her. She turned and saw him making his way over to them. He was smiling so she assumed that meant she wasn't in trouble. "Sorry, but could I talk to you for a second?" Lia glanced over at Regulus who shrugged.

"Umm sure," Lia replied.

"I'll go find Vlad," Regulus said and he continued to walk down the corridor.

"So what's up?" Lia asked, glancing over at Remus. Remus scratched the back of his head and looked awkwardly at her.

"Okay, this might be a little weird, but I just wanted to warn you in case you didn't know. Sirius ran away from home this summer and from what I heard Regulus was pretty upset about it."

Lia blinked. "Sirius ran away? I thought he'd been kicked out."

Remus frowned. "Is that what his mother's been telling everyone? Oh man, he's gonna be so pissed. No, he definitely ran away."

"Remus?" Lily stuck her head out of a compartment. Remus looked over at her. Lia felt her eyes narrow. "Do you happen to have a list of the Prefects? We need to figure out where we should assign people."

Remus nodded and turned back to Lia. "Sorry, I have to get this done, but yeah, just be careful when you mention Sirius to him." He gave Lia a quick smile and followed Lily into the compartment.

Lia walked down the corridor, her mind reeling. Sirius ran away from home! She knew he was always fighting with his mom, but he actually left!

She glanced into each of the compartments as she walked by, searching for Regulus. When she was at the second to last corridor she caught a flash of black hair and opened the door. "Hey Reg…." she began, but to her horror it wasn't Regulus who looked over at her.

"Sorry, just me," Sirius grinned. Lia felt her cheeks burning.

"Sorry, I thought….You look so…..Sorry!" She turned to leave but Sirius just laughed.

"No problem, I was bored anyway," he motioned for her to sit down. Lia paused for a second and he grinned. "I understand if you feel that I'm no longer good enough to talk to…" Lia glared at him and sank awkwardly into the seat furthest away from him. He raised an eyebrow at this but didn't say anything.

Lia looked down at her hands, not wanting to look over at Sirius. For some reason he made her feel so nervous. Maybe it was because her mom had been so rude earlier, but she didn't think so. He had always been intimidating. Well, not always, just for the past few years. She glanced over at him and watched as he laid back on the seat across from her, completely at ease. He grinned crookedly at her and she quickly looked away.

"So err, where's James?" Lia asked, staring intently at the window. Sirius examined his nails and shrugged.

"How should I know? He's probably off trying to convince Lily to go out with him." Lia nodded. She felt her gaze drifting back over to him. He was staring unabashedly at her, his dark eyes boring into her skin. She shifted uncomfortably.

"So, where were you this summer?" Sirius asked. "Last summer you were at the house every other day." Lia acted as though she hadn't seen the dark look pass over Sirius' face when he had mentioned the house.

"I was in Egypt. Dad had to go there for some conference, so Mum and I went along." Sirius sat up, an almost dreamy expression on his face.

"Wow, Egypt. I've always wanted to go there. Was it amazing?" Lia laughed.

"I guess. I think I would've liked it better if I had had someone to tour everything with." Sirius looked at her sympathetically, but Lia shrugged. "Dad had a lot of meetings and Mum had to entertain." Lia stared off into space for a second before shaking these thoughts out of her head. "But, yeah it was amazing." Sirius nodded. She didn't know when it happened, but he was suddenly next to her. He smiled at her and Lia couldn't help but smile back.

"So what are you planning on doing once you get out of school?"

Sirius frowned. "You know, I haven't even thought about it. I mean I have, but not really." He yawned and stretched his legs out. Lia felt herself stiffen slightly as his leg brushed hers. She glanced over at him, not sure whether or not he had touched her on purpose. He didn't seem to have noticed anything. He was staring into off space, his usual cocky smile replaced with a look of intense thought. She smiled to herself. This was definitely not the Sirius she remembered.

Sirius turned and looked at her, a look of intensity Lia was surprised he possessed on his face. "Lia, I…"

Bam! The compartment door was thrown open. Peter barged in, laughing hysterically. "Pad foot! Where have you been?" Lia glanced back over to Sirius, who had miraculously moved two seats down from her.

"What happened?" Peter grinned and started laughing again.

"Oh man, Lily gave it to James bad this time. He asked her out and she put a hex on him and, you have to see! Come one!" Sirius stood up, grinning wickedly.

"Lead on my man," he said. Peter walked out of the compartment followed by Sirius. Sirius winked at Lia as he left, leaving her feeling very confused. How was Sirius so serious one second, and so full of mirth the next? She sighed. She would never understand the strange workings of the male mind. She stood up and went to go look for Regulus.


	3. Chapter 3

_So this is my first Sirius Black chapter. I hope you enjoy!_

Sirius Black was annoyed with himself. For the sixth time since he had sat down in the Great Hall his eyes were traveling over towards the Slytherin table. It seemed like the entire house was casting him dirty looks. He had known that some people weren't going to be very friendly towards him because of the …incident that summer, but now that it was actually happening, well it was a little harder to deal with than he had originally thought.

His own cousin, Narcissa was the worst one of all…well, other than Snivelus of course. He had never particularly gotten along with Narcissa, but they had always been at least polite to each other. No, Narcissa and her friends had made it painfully obvious that they wanted nothing to do with him and, though he would never admit it out loud, it kind of hurt. Oh how he despised them all!

Well, almost all of them. There was one Slytherin who he didn't mind and it was her that kept him glancing over at that table. It's not that she was gorgeous, there were definitely prettier girls at Hogwarts (he couldn't think of any at that moment, but he knew that it was true). It was something else about her that caught his attention.

Maybe it was merely because she didn't look at him as if he was a piece of trash. She had sat and talked with him, even after her mother had forbidden her to do so. He grinned as he remembered the way her tiny mouth had pursed when he had accused her of thinking he was no longer good enough to talk to.

Well she had talked to him on the train, when nobody was around. Who knew how she'd act if he talked to her in public, which was something he certainly intended on doing.

"Hello!" James yelled, waking Sirius up from his thoughts.

"Huh," is all he could manage to get out. James grinned.

"Something interesting at the Slytherin table?" he asked, his face deceptively innocent.

"Huh," Sirius replied, trying desperately to think of a valid excuse.

"Yet again, your vast vocabulary amazes me," James said, patting his friend on the back. Sirius rolled his eyes; that was a close one.

"So, when's dinner? I'm starving!" Remus asked, sitting down next to Sirius. James shrugged.

"I hope it's soon, I could eat a horse!" Peter piped in. James sighed dramatically.

"Please don't Peter. I don't want you stinking up the dormitory tonight." Sirius laughed. James could be such a weirdo.

"Hey Remus," someone called from behind him. James immediately sat up straight, a strange mixture of fear and delight on his face. That could mean only one thing.

"Hey Lily," Sirius said as the beautiful red-head sat down on the other side of Remus.

"Hey Lils!" James exclaimed, grinning at her. Lily, nodded at him politely before turning back to Remus.

"So I just realized something. We forgot to tell the prefects the passwords!" Remus groaned.

"As soon as I sit down…." He muttered.

"That's what you get for being Head Boy," James shrugged. Lily fixed him with a look of pure loathing before turning back to Remus. James was so used to this reaction, however, that he merely shrugged and grinned at Sirius.

"Anyways," Lily continued, glaring pointedly at James. "Will you help me find them all?" Remus sighed.

"Okay, you find the Ravenclaws, I'll go talk to the Hufflepuffs and I guess the Slytherins." Lily nodded and stood up from the table.

"Thanks Remus." She walked briskly away towards the Ravenclaw table.

"What a women," James sighed. Sirius rolled his eyes. James was so over dramatic at times.

"Well, I've gotta go talk to the Hufflepuffs," Remus groaned. "I hope I recognize one of them, because as of right now, I can't remember who the Prefects are. At least Regulus and Lia won't be hard to find." Sirius started at this last part. Lia was a Prefect? He grinned as a brilliant plan blossomed in his head.

"Hey, I could tell Regulus and Lia the password," he said, as nonchalantly as possible. Remus eyed him suspiciously.

"And why would you want to do that?" he asked. Sirius shrugged.

"I haven't seen my brother in a long time." Remus studied him for a moment before nodding.

"Okay, but don't let Lily know about it." Remus looked nervously around, as if making sure Lily was nowhere in earshot before whispering, "The password is frog breath."

"What was it again?" Sirius asked, grinning wickedly at Remus. Remus rolled his eyes and walked towards the Ravenclaw table. Alas, not even a rise out of him.

"Why hello, my estranged little brother," Sirius said, slipping into the seat next to Regulus. Regulus grinned.

"Hey. What are you doing here?" Sirius looked affronted.

"What, am I not allowed to come over to see how my baby brother is doing?" He nudged Regulus playfully. Regulus frowned and rubbed his arm. Oh come on, he didn't hit him that hard. Why did he always act like such a baby?

"Oh hey Lia, didn't see you there," Sirius said glancing over at her as if he had only just spotted her. In reality he had known she was there all along but he didn't want to seem too interested.

Lia blushed slightly (an effect he had on many people of the opposite sex). "Hey," she said.

"Lia," Sirius said, looking back over at his brother, " actually came and sat with me on the train, unlike some people I know." Regulus laughed.

"Sorry, I assumed you'd be hanging out with your usual possy," he said. Sirius sighed.

"Still, it would've been nice to see my baby brother after being away for a whole month." Regulus tried to cut in, so Sirius talked louder. "It's okay, I understand. I guess, like most of your little friends here, not including Lia of course," he winked at her. "Mother has poisoned you against me." He looked expectantly at Regulus who of course immediately denied the charge.

"No way! Like I said, I thought you'd be hanging out with James and them." Sirius stared at his brother for a minute or so, making him squirm. When he had decided that Regulus had suffered enough he smiled.

"Okay, I forgive you." To Sirius' delight Regulus let out a sigh of relief. Good, he hadn't been completely ruined by Mother.

"So, how was the rest of your summer?" Regulus asked. Sirius shrugged.

"Better than being stuck in that bloody house with Mother." Regulus' face fell a little.

"So, you're definitely not coming back?"

Sirius snorted. "Hell no. Like I told you before, I've had enough." Regulus nodded and fell silent. Sirius glanced down at his watch. 8:25. The sorting was about to begin. "Well I better get back to my table," he said standing up.

Regulus nodded and Lia gave a feeble wave. He turned to go before he remembered. "Oh yeah! I was supposed to tell you, the password is frog breath. Make sure to lead the little ones to wherever you Slytherins go." Regulus nodded and Sirius walked back over to his table, trying to ignore the sneers and whispers that followed him.

"So did you tell them?" Remus asked as Sirius sat down.

"No, I completely forgot." Sirius replied, rolling his eyes.

"So…" James asked, grinning wickedly at Sirius. "What's the Slytherin password?"

"No!" Remus yelled. "Sirius Black, under no circumstance are you to tell anyone that password!"

Sirius winked at James. "Don't worry, I'll tell you later."

Remus glared at him. "I swear Sirius…"

"Shh! The sorting's about to begin." Sirius grinned at Remus who looked about ready to kill him.

_Welcome all to Hogwarts School;_

_I am the sorting hat;_

_I'm here to tell you which you are:_

_The badger, raven, snake or cat._

_Be wary of your choices,_

_But don't doubt what _I_ say_

_Each house has its own rewards_

_And each has strength in its own way._

_If you can brave the lions den_

_Where dwell the brave and strong,_

_And you can face the best of them,_

_Then Gryffindor's where you belong._

_Or do you belong with loyal badger?_

_From a fight you do not flee;_

_If you are a just, hard-working friend,_

_Then Hufflepuff's the place to be._

_But if you admire the wise old raven,_

_Great cleverness you show;_

_If intelligence is your greatest strength,_

_To Ravenclaw you'll go._

_Or are you with the skillful snake_

_Who strives to be the best?_

_In ambition and in cunning_

_Slytherins surpass the rest._

_These houses may sound different,_

_But keep and open mind;_

_Without them there would be no school,_

_As all of you are soon to find._

_Only together can each one_

_Hope to win its fight;_

_But put me on, I'll let you know_

_Which house for you is right._

Sirius clapped along with the rest of the students as the first years were called up one by one. "They look kinda small don't they," he commented to no one in particular.

"Yeah I know, I don't remember ever being that small," James replied.

As soon as Carl Zimbago was sorted into Ravenclaw, Dumbledore stood up to make his usual speech.

"Thank God, I'm starving to death," Peter whispered.

"Aren't you always?" Sirius asked causing everyone around to snigger.

"I just have one thing to say to you and that is eat up," and with that the tables were filled with every type of food one could imagine. Sirius laughed as Peter dove at the food, putting anything and everything in reach onto his plate.

"Slow down Wormtail! You don't wanna make yourself sick."

Peter shrugged, his mouth too full of food to respond.

After they had all finished eating Dumbledore stood up again. "Welcome to Hogwarts!" He exclaimed smiling at all of his students. "I want to say a few things before you head off to your dormitories. First of all I would like to inform the new students, and remind the old ones," he winked at the Marauders, "that the Forbidden Forest is in fact forbidden. Mr. Filch also wanted me to tell you that his list of forbidden objects is hanging on his door, so stop by and read those as soon as you can."

"Oh yeah, that's first on my list of things to do," Sirius muttered.

"I would also like to introduce you to the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Professor Indubrock." A rather tall, laid back looking wizard stood up as everyone clapped.

"Dumbledore must be getting desperate," James whispered. Sirius stifled his laugh as Dumbledore continued his speech.

"Professor Indubrock has kindly offered to fill this position for a year before heading back over to America to claim his post as Head Master of The Salem School of Magic."

"Woah, an American professor! This is gonna be fun," James whispered, his hazel eyes full of mischief.

"Yeah!" Peter exclaimed.

"Great…"Remus muttered.

Sirius laughed. He was finally home.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 

"So, what do we have first?" Regulus asked Lia, who was studying the schedule.

"Transfiguration," she said with much more enthusiasm than Regulus would have shown.

"Regulus!" someone said brightly. Regulus tried to turn, and almost spilled his eggs all over the table. The speaker saved him from further embarrassment by sitting down next to him. "How is my favorite cousin?" Narcissa half-sang. Regulus decided to ignore the emphasis on the word "favorite".

"Good," he said, but she started talking again before he could repeat the question to her.

"Good! How was your summer?"

"It was…good," Regulus said, abandoning his quest to think of something more interesting to say.

He liked Narcissa, but her friends were another story. McNair had always struck him as unfriendly, to put it nicely; he and Regulus had a mutual, wordless agreement to avoid one another as much as possible. Henry made Regulus almost as uneasy as McNair did; he was large, judgmental, and, quite frankly, not the smartest fellow. Valerie was…hard to describe. She may or may not have liked Regulus, but Narcissa liked him, so Valerie at least pretended to. As a group, their condescending stares alternating with a refusal to even look at Regulus and his friends made Regulus feel very uncomfortable. Except for Susanne, that is. Susanne Walker was a pretty, blond girl in Regulus' year, but most of her friends were older. However, she was always friendly to Regulus, Vlad, and Lia, and Regulus always enjoyed chatting with her before her friends showed up.

"How was your summer, Narcissa?" Lia asked. Lia was good at filling in the blanks for Regulus when his mind wandered; he wondered if she did it on purpose. Narcissa's eyes narrowed slightly, but her smile didn't falter.

"I heard you went to Egypt," Narcissa said politely. "I bet that was fun."

"Yeah, it was," Lia said. She looked as though she wanted to say more, but Narcissa was oblivious to this.

"Wonderful," said Narcissa. She turned her attention back to Regulus and was about to speak when Vlad—right on cue—broke in.

"I went to Scotland!" he said, accidentally dribbling orange juice down his front.

"How nice," Narcissa said, her smile freezing in place. Regulus tried not to grin at her obvious dislike of Vlad—obvious, that is, to everyone but Vlad. "Now, Regulus, dear," she said, smiling sweetly at him. "What are your plans for the first Hogsmeade visit?" Regulus started to laugh, but stopped quickly. Why could he never tell when people were joking? Apparently Henry suffered from the same problem, Regulus thought darkly, trying to ignore his sniggering.

"They haven't even posted the first Hogsmeade visit, Narcissa," Regulus said. This didn't seem to be an appropriate answer, because she waited for him to continue. McNair said something to Henry and they both laughed. Narcissa shot them a warning look, and they suddenly found no humor in the situation. "I haven't made plans yet," Regulus told her.

"Wonderful! Don't make any," Narcissa said, winking and ruffling his hair.

"Okay," Regulus said, still a bit confused. He waited until Narcissa had left to eat breakfast elsewhere before he smoothed down his hair. Narcissa was like a whirlwind, and always left him feeling dizzy and disoriented.

"What's happening at Hogsmeade?" Lia asked. Regulus shrugged.

"Beats me."

"It just goes to show," Vlad mused, not having paid any attention to what went on around him, "No one can resist." Lia and Regulus waited for him to continue, but he showed no intention of doing so.

"Care to elaborate?" Regulus asked finally.

"I hate to break it to you, man," Vlad said, "but your cousin digs me." Regulus glanced over at Lia to see if she was having any more success keeping a straight face. She wasn't.

"How d'you figure?" Regulus asked, choosing his words carefully.

"Some people," Vlad sighed, shaking his head.

"Please enlighten us," Regulus said. Lia couldn't take it anymore; she burst out laughing and didn't stop. Vlad rolled his eyes as though she understood the situation less than he did.

"We'd better start heading to class," Regulus said, standing up. He'd learned from experience that the best way to avoid an argument between the two was to distract them. Lia struggled to control herself, and then got to her feet. Regulus was a bit worried that Vlad would be angry with Lia, but as it turned out, he just acted as though she were socially inept. This delusion proved to be even more annoying than anger.

"Welcome back to Transfiguration," Professor McGonagall said as they took their seats. Whenever she spoke it felt like they were in trouble. First she would reprimand them: "I trust that over the summer you didn't forget everything you learned last year." Then she would punish them: "Now that you are fifth years we will move on to a more complex branch of transfiguration."

"Is she implying that the past four years _haven't_ been complex?" Regulus muttered to Vlad.

"A question, Mr. Black?" asked McGonagall, who had ears like a bat.

"No, ma'am," Regulus said. He was a little put out that she reprimanded him and not Antonio, who was trying to flirt with Veronica. McGonagall continued to talk to them about the impossible tasks they would be expected to perform that year, and the ones they were already expected to know. Regulus' head was spinning as he failed to remember how to do all but three of them.

"When did we learn _that_?" Regulus asked Vlad helplessly, hearing yet another spell he had supposedly learned. Vlad shrugged, just as lost.

"Mr. Black! Mr. Marx! Is there a problem?" Professor McGonagall asked, eyes flashing at them from behind her square spectacles.

"Yeah," said Vlad. Regulus was embarrassed for him even before Vlad continued talking. "I was wondering, when were we supposed to have learned all this?" Professor McGonagall almost smiled, and several of their classmates laughed. Vlad looked a bit confused, but acted as though he had made the joke on purpose.

"Is that a serious question, Mr. Marx?" McGonagall asked.

"No, ma'am," Vlad said, at least having enough sense to stop there.

"Then do you mind if I go back to teaching my class?"

"Go right ahead," said Vlad. Susanne laughed; she didn't smile much, but for some reason Vlad could always make her laugh. Fortunately, McGonagall was in a good mood that day, and ignored him. Lia shot both Regulus and Vlad a dirty look; she adored Professor McGonagall for reasons only she knew.

After awhile, the professor stopped lecturing them and had them perform what she called a "review of the basics". How the hell were they supposed to remember how to turn a mouse into a snuffbox? Lia remembered though, curse her!

"Well done, Miss Braulio," McGonagall said. "Perhaps you should encourage your friends to study with you," she added, glancing pointedly at Regulus and Vlad. Vlad glared at her back when she passed by them.

"Lia," Regulus whispered once the professor was out of earshot. "What are the words?"

"You don't even remember the words!" Lia asked, an amused smile dancing on her lips. Regulus glanced at McGonagall to make sure her back was still turned.

"Lia!" he hissed. Laughing at him, her dark blue eyes sparkling, Lia told him the incantation.

By the end of class, Regulus had managed to transfigure his mouse into a brown, somewhat fuzzy snuffbox (luckily McGonagall didn't notice that he hid the tail underneath the rest of it). Regulus had, of course, passed the incantation on to Vlad, who was less fortunate; by the end of class he had an enlarged, somewhat rectangular mouse with flower-patterned fur. McGonagall held him after class for a few minutes to lecture him on the importance of something-or-another. Vlad was still whining about it as they made their way down to Care for Magical Creatures.

"…as if I don't get good grades in that class!" He _didn't_, but that was beside the point. Lia, who was walking ahead of them, pretending not to eavesdrop, couldn't help laughing.

"Give it a rest already," Regulus said finally.

"What?" Regulus was spared from having to repeat himself by the arrival of Professor Amrit. Professor Amrit was a diminutive, extremely elderly man who was quite deaf, and nearly blind.

"Welcome to Care for Magical Creatures!" he declared, speaking more loudly than was necessary. It was hard to tell whether his volume was due to his inability to hear himself talk, or to see who he was talking to. "I am Professor Amrit. A-M-R-I-T. Amrit."

"We know, professor," Susanne said loudly.

"If you insist on whispering, I won't be able to hear you!" Amrit said in his wheezy voice. "Speak up!"

"I said," Susanne practically shouted, "'we already know who you are, Professor!' We're Slytherin fifth years; we've had you for the past two years now!"

"Oh, so I see," Professor Amrit said, adjusting his enormous spectacles. Regulus sincerely doubted that he did. "Well, then, let's get started, shall we? First, I want all of you to turn to page 95 in your textbooks. Now will someone please read it out loud? How about you? The one in the green." They were all wearing green.

Lia decided to take charge. "The Boronax was originally discovered in South America—"

"Ah, yes, the Boronax," Professor Amrit interrupted. "It was discovered in Argentina, but many believe that it originated in Chile…" He went on. Regulus had always suspected that Professor Amrit chose a page number at random and whatever animal was on it would be the one they learned about that day.

"Hey, look who decided to show up," Vlad said. The Gryffindor fifth years were half-jogging down the hill towards them.

"Sorry we're late, Professor Amrit!" Ricky Jones, a short, pudgy boy, said breathlessly. "Our Defense Against the Dark Arts class went over." Amrit continued to lecture for a minute or so before acknowledging Ricky.

"Did you say something?" Amrit asked, looking in vaguely the area that Ricky occupied. "If you have nothing to say, then sit back down! All of you!" Silently, the Gryffindors exchanged glances and sat down as though they had been there the whole time.

"Lucky little pricks!" Vlad muttered. Regulus nodded.

"Damn Gryffindors get away with everything!" Mitch added gruffly. That was true, so Regulus didn't point out that _everyone_ got away with everything in Professor Amrit's class. Mitch and Regulus' respective sizes may have also contributed to the latter's silence.

"But Professor Amrit," Nadine Andrews' whining voice penetrated the air and interrupted Amrit's lecture. Somehow, every forgiving thought Regulus may have had towards the Gryffindors disappeared. "I thought the Boronax was in the bird family." Nadine had mousy brown hair and dusty brown eyes; Regulus had always thought she should have worn large, round glasses and braces to match her character. Professor Amrit cleared his throat and adjusted his own oversized spectacles.

"The Boronax has been known to spend days at a time underwater…" he continued to lecture irrelevantly. After about five minutes he turned back to Nadine and said, "Does that answer your question?" Either he chose to not wait for a response, or—what was more likely—he assumed he had failed to hear her answer. At any rate, he continued rambling on about the Boronax, which may or may not have been a bird.

"That Andrews girl really gets on my nerves," Mabel said. "That probably sounds really mean; but I just can't stand her!"

"Yeah, me neither," said Regulus. Immediately after speaking, he realized that Mabel hadn't been talking to him, and he began to redden. Mabel went along with it though.

"By the way, how was your summer Regulus?" she asked. "I feel bad for not asking yet."

"It was good," Regulus said, giving her a grateful smile. He didn't much care for Arnette (whom Mabel had really been talking to), but he was still glad that Mabel had made him look less idiotic in front of her. "How was yours?"

"Oh, it was fun; short, but fun," said Mabel, smiling.

"Is it true that your parents threw your brother out?" Arnette asked, fixing Regulus with a nastily-amused stare. Regulus' opinion of her dropped even lower; and he concentrated on not grinding his teeth.

"No," he said, meeting her gaze directly. "He ran away."

"Really?" Mabel asked, trying to alleviate the rising conflict. "When did this happen?" Three weeks, four days, and probably close to an hour ago.

"About a month ago," Regulus told her.

"Wow, I'm sorry to hear that," Mabel said.

"Sorrier than when you heard he'd been thrown out?" Arnette asked in poorly feigned innocence. Mabel turned pink.

"No," she said. "I just didn't…know for sure that it was true." Regulus tried to give her an encouraging smile, but only managed half of one. Mabel had been trying to smooth out the situation, and for that she deserved gratitude. Still though, he could almost hear her when she first heard the news: "Sirius Black was thrown out? Well, I guess that's not all that surprising. Oh, that came out really mean! But he always seemed very reckless to me. I never really liked him."

Regulus shook the thought from his mind. Mabel may say some harsh things at times, but on the whole she was a nice person; and she returned his half-smile with a full one.

"So, how was _your_ summer, Arnette?" Regulus asked, deciding to ignore her provocative comments and glances.

"It was okay," Arnette said, shrugging, sighing, and looking into the distance as if bored with the conversation.

"…and most importantly," Professor Amrit's voice rose to an even louder volume, "Boronax blood can be used in several important medical potions." Regulus decided to use the lecture as an excuse to end his conversation with Arnette.

When Professor Amrit announced that class was over, everyone—including Regulus—leapt to his or her feet and left as soon as possible, heading towards the Great Hall for lunch.

"Hey," Susanne said, walking over to Regulus, Vlad, and Lia.

"Hey."

"I'd forgotten how unbelievably boring that class was," Susanne complained, trudging up the hill. "Thank god it's over."

"Yeah," Regulus said with feeling, "thank god!"

"I saw you talking to Arnette," Lia commented. As always, she knew exactly what was bothering him.

"Oh, that sucks!" said Susanne. "No wonder you ran out of there so fast."

"One of the reasons," Vlad said. "We're also starving." Susanne laughed.

"Well, I'll see you guys in potions," Susanne said, when they entered the Great Hall.

"See ya," said Regulus. They were all used to Susanne going off to spend time with Narcissa and her group whenever the opportunity arose, so none of them was insulted by her departure.

"So what did you two talk about?" Lia asked after they had started eating.

"Who?"

"You and Arnette," Lia said.

"Oh, Arnette," Vlad broke in, shoveling mashed potatoes into his mouth. "That's one fine piece of real-estate." Lia didn't care for Arnette, but she glared at Vlad for his misogynistic comment.

"Ha!" said Regulus. "Go for it Vlad; I wish you luck." Vlad threw a roll at Regulus and continued eating. The conversation took a lighter note, and they were all in good moods by the time lunch ended; although Lia grew slightly less cheerful as they reached the dungeons. Regulus, on the other hand, could have jumped for joy at the thought of double potions—and _would_ have if the whole class hadn't been right there.

"Regulus, so good to see you, m'boy!" Professor Slughorn declared as he entered the classroom. Physically, Slughorn had always reminded Regulus of an engorged slug with a mustache; but Regulus liked him, even if he _was_ a bit eccentric. "And Rosalia, you've grown into such a lovely young woman!"

"Hello, Professor Slughorn!" Vlad piped in.

"Hm," Slughorn said, and then moved on to greet his other favorite students. Regulus felt a little guilty that Vlad was always ignored, but they all knew that Slughorn was only interested in Regulus and Lia because of their parents. Plus, Regulus enjoyed being in the Slug Club too much to jeopardize it by saying anything.

"Man! I'm stuck with Mitch!" Vlad whined to Regulus once they had started working on their potions. Mitch was the very large, very stupid captain of the Quidditch team; Regulus and Vlad did their best to avoid both him and his Italian friend, Antonio, who was also in their year. Why Mitch and Antonio were never partners was beyond Regulus…unless it was to give Antonio a chance to prey on some defenseless victim (not that any of the girls were bothered by his flirtatious attentions). "Why aren't you ever _my_ partner?"

"Because," Regulus said, "if I didn't partner with Lia, she might not help me with Transfiguration." The conversation was interrupted when a cloud of noxious green smoke billowed from Regulus' cauldron. "Trust me, there's no other reason," he added to Vlad, who sniggered. Regulus braced himself, and turned to see the damage. "Good lord, Lia!" Regulus exclaimed, coughing, waving the cauldron clean with his wand, and silently vowing to use Lia's cauldron from now on. "What did you do?"

"I don't know!" Lia said, paralyzed with either shock or humiliation. Probably both. Her face and hands were covered in black and green smudges, and, after making sure she wasn't burned, Regulus couldn't help laughing. "It's not funny!" Lia exclaimed, turning bright red. The rest of the class seemed to agree with Regulus on this one.

"Quiet down!" Slughorn said, tapping his wand on his desk like a gavel. After the class had turned back to their own cauldrons, the professor waddled over to Regulus and Lia. "Quite alright, m'dear," he mused to Lia. When Slughorn talked to his favorites it was as though his mouth was filled with a large quantity of honey. "Could've happened to anyone. I say, how is your father these days?"

"Oh, he's doing quite well," Lia said politely, and then went off on a brief description of the political happenings in Egypt, sounding as if she were reciting a planned speech. Knowing how impressed Slughorn was with Mr. Braulio, Lia had the good sense to never let Slughorn know how little she actually saw of her father.

"Splendid," Slughorn said, opening his wide mouth into a smile. "And Regulus, m'boy; how are you getting on?"

"Pretty well," Regulus said. He knew better than to ask Slughorn how _he_ was doing; not wanting to fall victim to a painfully long-winded narrative about Slughorn's famous "connections". Besides, what Slughorn really wanted was a report on the Black family; unfortunately, the only news Regulus could think of was Sirius's departure, and he wasn't sure whether or not to tell Slughorn about it.

"Even after your brother was thrown out of the house?" Slughorn asked. Regulus should have known that Slughorn would have heard, and debated whether or not to correct his professor.

"Well, yes, Professor…" Regulus said, searching his mind for what to say. "It isn't as though I no longer see Sirius…and since he's a seventh year he would be leaving home soon anyways."

"Of course, of course!" Slughorn said. "So you are still in touch with him? Your whole family is?" He was digging for information, and Regulus knew that whatever he decided to say would be the wrong decision; but he couldn't think of how to avoid answering.

BAM! Something exploded in their cauldron.

"Good gracious!" Slughorn exclaimed. "I had better let you continue with your potion then. We can finish this conversation at a later time."

"Excellent," Regulus said, happily turning to his twice-assaulted cauldron. "Thanks, Lia," he said quietly, giving her a warm smile. Lia was bad at potions, but she wasn't _that_ bad.

"For what?" Lia asked innocently, but she gave Regulus a mischievous grin before turning back to her textbook. With Lia reading the instructions out loud and Regulus hastily following them, their potion was soon caught up with everyone else's.

"Pst! Regulus!" Vlad hissed. "Save me!" Regulus glanced over at their discolored concoction.

"Add some jelly root," Regulus whispered back.

"What? No, not the potion," Vlad said. "It's Mitch, he's—"

"Hey! Do I have to do all this myself?" Mitch—who, to Regulus' knowledge had not touched a single ingredient yet—demanded gruffly. "Come on, Shorty; do some work!" Vlad, who was not short by anyone's standards but Mitch's, sighed and began chopping up jelly root.

"Regulus!" Lia hissed, poking him in the back with her wand.

"Oh. Right. Sorry," Regulus said, returning to his own potion. Speaking of doing all the work…But he would really rather get it done properly and do all the work than let Lia cause another explosion.

"Hey, Lia," said Mabel brightly in her sing-song voice from the table next to them. "How was your summer? I feel like I haven't talked to you in forever."

"It was great!" Lia said, breaking into a smile. "I went to Egypt and it was _so_ much fun!"

"Awesome," Mabel said, smiling even more brightly.

"How about you?"

"Well, I went to Greece," Mabel said.

"Oh wow, was that fun?" Lia asked.

"It was!" said Mabel, gesturing with her hands as she talked. "It was _so_ much fun. We saw the coliseum which was really neat. But you went to Egypt? That is so awesome! What did you do? I mean did you see anything or meet anyone?" She winked as she said the last part.

"I didn't meet anyone," Lia told her, laughing a little. "But I got to see the pyramids and that was really cool."

"Well, that's awesome; that sounds like a lot of fun," Mabel said.

"Mabel!" said Veronica, giving Mabel a pointed look.

"Oh, right," said Mabel. "Well, I have to do this, but I'll talk to you later, Lia, okay?"

"Okay," said Lia, and Mabel turned back to her friend, who was busy flipping her blond hair over her shoulder and staring at her pale blue eyed reflection in her ever-present hand mirror. Veronica was by far the more tolerable of Mabel's friends, but in Regulus' opinion, she was not as attractive as she thought herself to be. Perhaps she would be if she didn't always look as though she had a bloated worm thrust under her nose. Although her lips _did_ vaguely resemble worms…"Regulus!" Lia snapped irritably. "Stop staring!"

"Sorry," Regulus said quickly, dropping his gaze. Mabel wasn't particularly pretty, but she wasn't unfortunate looking, and she always had a smile on her face which was good, he supposed. Her round cheeks, hazel eyes, and curly brownish-blond hair just didn't strike him as anything special. Really, the best looking of the three friends—Mabel, Arnette, and Veronica—was Arnette, who had dark brown hair and piercing green eyes; but her personality said all there was to say about her. All in all, the Slytherin fifth years were rather lacking in attractive girls…although there was one who was decent; but Regulus doubted that Susanne would ever think of him that way. No, he was pretty much sunk as far as girls his age were concerned.

"Is this the right amount?" Lia asked, holding up a beaker of rat blood.

"Yeah, that's good," Regulus said, and she poured it into the cauldron. Of course, he could always date girls from different years or houses…one in particular jumped to mind, but Regulus quickly pushed the thought away; he didn't have a snowball's chance in hell with _her_.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The next day their first class was Defense Against the Dark Arts. They were all eager to see what their new professor was like, and when Regulus, Lia, and Vlad entered the classroom it was already full of their classmates. Everyone in the room was buzzing with conversation; it sounded to Regulus like a hive of overexcited honey bees.

"I can't believe we have an American professor," Lia said, sitting down with Regulus and Vlad.

"I know!" said Vlad. "How desperate is Dumbledore?"

"That's not what I meant," Lia began.

"It's probably because no more British wizards want a job they'll be run out of in a year," Regulus commented.

"That curse isn't real, you know," Lia said, rolling her eyes. Lia wasn't superstitious…at least she pretended she wasn't.

"Five Galleons say he's gone before next school year," Regulus said.

"I'm not stupid, Regulus!" Lia said indignantly.

"But I thought you didn't believe in the curse," Regulus pointed out, grinning at her.

"I don't," she said. "But Dumbledore already told us the new professor was going back to America next year. Or did you think I hadn't heard that?" she added, smiling at him.

"When did he say that?" Vlad asked. Regulus was equally bewildered. Lia laughed.

"Don't either of you listen to his speeches?" she asked.

"Of course not."

"Why would we? You always do," Vlad added. Lia rolled her eyes.

"I don't know why I bother talking to you two," she said.

"Because you don't have any other friends," Vlad suggested. He got a bruise on the arm for that one.

"Welcome," announced a voice, "to Defense Against the Dark Arts!" The class quieted down for a moment, then started talking more loudly. Where was their teacher? Everyone was interested to find out about this new, American Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, who would hopefully be less of a disappointment than their previous one. "You may think," he began again. The class spun around in their seats. The first time he had spoken, the voice had come from the front of the room, but now they watched in astonishment as their professor walked into the classroom from behind them. "That Defense Against the Dark Arts is all about wand-waving and spell casting; but it is, in fact, so much more than that. By which I mean, let's do away with all the boring memorizations and move on to the exciting little gizmos that will do the work for us!"

They weren't quite sure whether to laugh or not, so they just stared at him. By this time, he had made his way to the front of the room and was standing behind his desk, gazing excitedly at them. Regulus had never known that teachers' robes could be worn so casually. After a moment he began to wonder if the professor had asked a question somewhere in that speech that they were expected to answer.

Without warning, the professor sat down in his chair and leaned back; no longer looking at them. The movement was so abrupt that they were all stunned into another, consecutive silence. It was almost as if he was now ignoring them.

"Who the hell _is_ this guy?" Vlad muttered to Regulus, who shrugged.

"Crazy American," Regulus muttered back, unable to think of a complete sentence. Vlad sniggered, and Lia looked as though she wasn't sure whether to laugh or glare at them. She compromised by raising her hand and speaking.

"Er, Professor?" she asked timidly.

"Ah!" the professor said, jumping to his feet. "I was wondering if I'd been assigned a class of deaf-mutes! What," he pronounced the word loudly, walking over to Lia, "is your name?"

"Rosalia Braulio," Lia said promptly; but she looked a bit uncomfortable.

"And I," the professor said, backing up and addressing the entire class, "am Professor Indubrock!" Professor Indobrack—Indabrook?—emphasized all his sentences as though he found them horribly exciting. Regulus wouldn't admit it out loud (especially not to Vlad, who was having trouble hiding his laughter), but there was something decidedly likeable about the professor, and Regulus couldn't help but be interested in what he was saying. Or maybe he was just curious in what the insane American would do next. "In fact," Professor Indubrock was saying, "Why don't we all go around and introduce ourselves?"

They did so, but their teacher seemed to stop paying attention half-way through. "Alrighty then!" he said, clapping his hands together and cutting off the last syllable of Arnette Shona's name. "Listen up folks, I'm not gonna call roll in this class, so if you don't show up, that's your problem. But I _will_ expect you to turn in all your assignments and pass the final exam. Other than that, you can do as you please as long as you don't interfere with the learning processes of the other students yadda yadda yadda. You know the drill. Now everyone, open your books to page 247. Ha-ha. Nah, I'm just kidding. Really, put your books away; you won't be needing them." Regulus glanced over at Vlad who shrugged. They all put their books back in their bags; Regulus feeling as though they had all missed the punch line somewhere in there. "Seriously, folks, I don't think you'll be using your books at all this year, but if you need them then I'll let you know about it the class before. Now, can anyone tell me what a parakinetic generator is? Anyone?" He went off scribbling all sorts of pictures and words all over the board. This would certainly be an interesting year.

"Wow, that was…interesting," Vlad commented as they left the Defense Against the Dark Arts room.

"That's one way of putting it," said Regulus.

"Hey, Black!" came a husky voice from behind them. Regulus turned around.

"Hey, Mitch."

"Quidditch tryouts are two Thursdays from now," Mitch told him. Mitch was the captain of the Quidditch team. "You better still be good."

"Okay," said Regulus. "Er, thanks for telling me." Mitch grunted and walked off; reminding Regulus of an ill-tempered grizzly bear.

"Two Thursdays from now?" Lia repeated.

"Yeah, why? D'you wanna watch?" Regulus replied. Lia had never shown interest in watching Quidditch tryouts before; and to be honest, Regulus wasn't particularly keen on playing in front of an audience. Of course, that was a ridiculous sentiment considering the whole school watched the games, but Regulus would still rather be observed as little as possible.

"No," she said, looking determined. Thank god for that! "I'm trying out." Regulus felt his stomach twist into a painful knot. There hadn't been a girl on the Slytherin Quidditch team since…well, ever actually. He hated messing with Lia when her chin was set and defiant like it was just then, but he wanted to warn her that she was setting herself up for disappointment. Didn't she realize that it didn't matter how good she was, she still wouldn't make the team?

"Er, are you sure you want to?" Regulus began, trying to think of how best to dissuade her. Unfortunately, Vlad lacked Regulus' tact.

"Ha! Are you kidding me? _You_ play Quidditch!" Vlad laughed. "That's gotta be the dumbest idea you've ever had! And that's saying something." Lia fixed him with an icy stare.

"What? You think I'm not good enough?" she demanded, glaring at both boys. Regulus watched his hope disappear like sparks from a fiery explosion; there was no stopping her now. So Regulus did the only thing he could think of, he laughed.

"Of _course_ we think you're good enough, Lia," Regulus lied. "We were just messing with you." Unfortunately, Vlad was too thick to take the hint.

"What are you talking about, Regulus?" he asked. "You're as bloody mad as _she_ is!" Regulus stared hopelessly at him as Lia regained her fury and stormed off.

"What the hell's the matter with you?" Regulus said. "Seriously."

"What?" Vlad asked, genuinely oblivious. "Did I say something?"

Lia refused to talk to either of them during Charms, but at lunch she consented to hold a conversation with Regulus. She refused to forgive Vlad though, unless he apologized; of course, she didn't tell _Vlad_ that she would accept his apology, she told Regulus. Not that Vlad would have apologized for laughing at her even if he knew she would forgive him. In Vlad's mind he had done nothing wrong, and he was very angry at Lia for being angry with him. By the time they went to the common room after dinner Regulus was sick of passing messages between the two.

"Because! Girls can't play Quidditch, Lia!" Vlad was yelling.

"That's only because dim-witted boys won't let us!" Lia shouted back. "I'm a better Quidditch player than you are, Vlad!"

"Are not!"

Regulus ran fingers through his hair and tried to concentrate on his homework. Lia and Vlad's fight had simmered throughout the day and had finally boiled over into a verbal war almost an hour ago.

"You're just afraid that I'll make the team when you didn't!" Lia declared. She hit a nerve; Vlad's father had been on the Quidditch team when he was in school, and he had expected Vlad to follow in his footsteps.

"Shut up Lia!" shouted Vlad. "It's not my fault they already had two beaters!"

"No they didn't," Lia said. "One of the beaters was a first year like you."

Vlad had nothing to say to that. "Well…uh…at least I don't spend all my time doing homework like you do!"

"Well, maybe if you did you wouldn't be failing!" Lia pointed out.

"Shut up Lia!" Vlad yelled. "We can't all be as smart as you!"

"Oh, that's a big insult!" she said sarcastically. Vlad's face turned red with anger as he tried to think of a comeback.

"Well…you're just…stupid!" Vlad yelled. "And…er…you're just mad because daddy doesn't come home at night!" Vlad knew that that was a comment that always got to Lia, but he didn't realize how much it actually affected her. At the time she just became angrier, but Regulus anticipated a tearful night for her. Then again, he couldn't feel too bad for her; she had brought Vlad's Quidditch failures up, and _everyone_ knew how much that bothered him.

"Go to hell, Vlad!" Lia shouted. "You spend all your time trying to live up to _your_ dad!"

Finally, Regulus couldn't take it anymore; he slammed his book shut and went up to his room to grab his cauldron. He couldn't do his homework anyways, so he may as well do something that actually interested him. Why Regulus didn't just go to the library to do his work, he would never know.

"…most stubborn little prick I've ever met!" Lia was yelling. "And where are _you_ going?" She forgot to turn her volume down when she turned her attention suddenly to Regulus.

"I'm going out. Sorry if I disturbed you," Regulus whispered irritably, trying to give them a hint about their noise level.

"With your cauldron?" Vlad asked in normal tones. He had no trouble switching from anger to calm; Regulus sometimes wondered if Vlad had any emotional attachments that lasted more than thirty seconds at a time.

"Yes, with my cauldron," said Regulus, still in a grumpy mood after listening to his friends bicker all day. "See you later. Don't wait up." And he hopped out of common room, sliding the stone door closed behind him with a slam. Regulus trudged off towards the dungeons in a dark mood; but he grew more relaxed and cheerful as he went along. It was a relief to be away from the fighting and to be alone.

He distractedly opened the door to the potions classroom and nearly jumped out of his skin. There was already someone there; and not just anyone: _Lily Evans_. Beautiful, sweet, funny, amazing, Head Girl Lily Evans! Regulus felt his heart drop into his churning stomach. Her golden-red hair glittered in the sunlight, and he was utterly speechless.

The door slammed closed behind him, blocking his only exit, and Lily Evans looked up with a start. Her brilliant green eyes were filled with sudden alarm and—Regulus told himself to snap out of it. He shouldn't be so nervous anyways; she was beneath him, a mud—not a pure-blood. No matter how many times he'd heard it used, Regulus couldn't even bring himself to _think_ the word "mud-blood". Not about Lily Evans. She was an angel.

"Oh jeeze! You scared me!" Lily Evans exclaimed, sending him a dazzling smile. But her words had the effect of bringing Regulus back to his senses.

"Oh. Sorry. I, er…um, I didn't really…what are you _doing_ here?" he stuttered. He sounded like such a bloody idiot! What was the matter with him? He could barely get a sentence out! Her smile faded and she started stuffing books into her bag.

"Oh, don't worry," she said, "I was just leaving." Damn! Regulus' words must have come out horrible wrong. He could kick himself! But he would worry about that later. Now he had to think of a way of making her stay longer, even if it was just for a second. The leg-lock curse? It might just work…but he almost immediately shook it off as ridiculous.

"No!" he blurted out. Damn! Damn! Sodding damn! Why did he say that?

"No?" she asked in a surprised, rather offended voice. Regulus was digging himself a deeper grave, he just knew it!

"Er, I mean…you don't have to go," he said awkwardly. Why did everything sound awkward by the time it got to his mouth? Sirius never had that problem; _he_ certainly would never go to pieces over some girl—a mud-blood no less! No! Not a mud-blood, just…not…pure-blood…Anyways, he continued: "I mean, you can go if you want to; I'm not gonna force you to stay here or anything." Nervous laugh. He begged himself to stop talking, but she was looking at him and he couldn't stop himself. "But if you want to stay or something, you can. I didn't mean you had to go, I was just wondering…what you were…doing…here…?" Regulus gazed helplessly at her, then felt his cheeks begin to burn.

"What's your name?" Lily asked, emerald eyes sparkling. What? Oh.

"Er…uh…my name? It's uh…er…" he sputtered, running fingers through his hair. Come on, Regulus, he told himself, spit it out!

"Do you have one?" Lily asked an amused grin on her rosy lips.

"Regulus," Regulus spit out finally. This was officially the most uncomfortable conversation he'd ever had in his life, including the time he had to explain to his father why his hair was green and a dripping pool of acid had just burned a hole through his bedroom floor.

"Regulus," she repeated slowly. "Wait!" she said suddenly. "You're a prefect, right?"

"Yeah," Regulus said, somehow smiling through his nerves. She recognized him!

"I knew I'd seen you somewhere before," said Lily brightly. Regulus couldn't think of anything to say. "Oh," she said, as if remembering something. "You're Sirius' little brother, aren't you?" Lily looked pleased to have known this information. The sentiment was not mutual.

"Yeah, I am," Regulus told her. As much as he loved and admired his older brother, Regulus truly and deeply resented being known as "Sirius' little brother" as if he had no accomplishments of his own! He had a few…maybe. It was really no competition between the Black boys and now Lily would always be comparing the two, just like everyone else. Lia once (often, actually) told Regulus to stop comparing himself to Sirius; but if everyone else was going to, why shouldn't he? And besides, he didn't really compare himself to that older, smarter, more athletic, more popular git very often. Not that Regulus really thought that Sirius was a git…very often.

Lily was saying something.

"Sorry, what?" Regulus asked. He really had to stop letting his mind wander.

"I said, 'It's nice to meet you'. I'm Lily Evans," Lily Evans said, extending her hand.

"I know," said Regulus, taking her slender hand with his trembling one. "Er, I mean…you're James'—?"

"Friend," she finished firmly, her hand tightening around his. Regulus hoped she couldn't hear his heartbeat increase—it certainly sounded like a drum roll to him. "Yes, I'm James' _friend_." So she _didn't_ have a boyfriend! Not that Regulus had any more of a chance with her because of that…He nodded, unable to speak, and she smiled. Then Lily released her grip and began to reach for her bag again.

"So, what are you doing in the potions classroom so late, 'James' Friend'?" Regulus asked, the words spilling out automatically. She smiled at his little joke and Regulus' heart leapt. The only other person who ever found his jokes amusing was Lia, and she was…well, _Lia_.

"Actually, I'm waiting for Professor Slughorn," Lily said, sitting back in her chair. "He was supposed to be getting me an ingredient, but he must've forgotten or gotten off track…you know how he can be." Regulus rolled his eyes upward and nodded; he _did_ know. Oh brilliant! She smiled at him again!

"How long have you been waiting?" he asked, at last devoid of stutters. Lily rolled her eyes and shrugged.

"Probably fifteen, twenty minutes." Regulus' eyes widened in surprise, and she laughed. "Eh, I had to finish reading for McGonagall anyways," she shrugged, motioning towards her Advanced Transfiguration textbook. Oh yeah, she was two years older, Regulus remembered darkly. He inadvertently frowned slightly and nodded. An awkward silence filled the room. Regulus had run out of things to say. He glanced at Lily, and she glanced at the door. Fine! Let her leave if she was that tired of him! He didn't really mean that though…He cleared his throat and put his cauldron on the table. May as well give her an excuse to leave.

"Remedial potions!" Lily asked, glancing down at his notebook, eyes open wide. Really? She was continuing the conversation? Did that mean she _actually_ wanted to talk to him? Regulus took a deep breath.

"Nah, I just wanted to try making borazin; you know, in case it comes up in O.W.L.'s," he said. Lily laughed, and his heart sank a little. It had sounded so much cooler in his head.

"I doubt it," she said. "We didn't even start learning that 'til this year. That's definitely N.E.W.T level." Regulus grinned sheepishly and looked down at his shuffling feet.

"I just wanted to see if I could do it. I heard Sirius talking about it and it sounded kinda cool." Damn! The last thing he had wanted to do was bring up his brother again. He added, "And if _he's_ figured it out, then it can't be _that_ hard." A boldfaced lie. Sirius was extremely intelligent, but Regulus was indisputably the better of the two at potions, so maybe it wasn't _that_ bad of a lie.

"You might have a point there," Lily said, grinning. "Well, good luck. And if you need any help, I'd be more than happy to show you some little tricks."

"That'd be great!" Regulus said. "I may even call you if I _don't_ need any help." Lily laughed uncertainly. Oh damn it! He'd only meant to _think_ that last part. It was Lily's fault for making him nervous. Lily winked, and waved, and closed the door behind her. Regulus sighed and tried to concentrate on his cauldron. Just when he'd finally gotten into his potions-making mode, a loud noise made him jump.

"You're not Miss Evans!" Professor Slughorn exclaimed.

"No," said Regulus. "Er…sorry?"


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Lia's heart was pounding. This was it: the Quidditch tryouts. She knew she was good enough to be on the team, so why was she so nervous? If Vlad hadn't made those stupid comments she wouldn't be nervous at all! She would never admit it out loud, but she couldn't help feeling that there was some truth in his snide remarks. Not that she thought girls couldn't play Quidditch, but there _hadn't_ ever been a girl on the Slytherin team before.

She looked around. There was no one else on the Quidditch field. Had she got the time wrong? Was this some cruel joke? She was a few minutes early, but that didn't stop her heart from beating faster as the seconds ticked by.

"Stupid Regulus!" she muttered under her breath, furious tears welling up in her eyes. He must have given her the wrong time so she wouldn't try out! When she got a hold of him, she would…

"Lia?" Lia spun around to see Regulus standing behind her with an awkward smile on his face. Her chest swelled with relief at seeing him. "Hey. So…you're really trying out then?" Lia's smile evaporated. "I mean, I'm glad you are," Regulus said quickly, stumbling over words. "I just meant that I was afraid that maybe Vlad got to you or something and you decided not to try out. Not that I think that you'd listen to his _stupid_," he choked out the last word, "comments about girls not being able to play Quidditch." He looked anxiously at her to try and see if she was mad at him. Lia smiled; his words were more insulting than encouraging, but it was the thought that counted…right?

"So…what exactly are we supposed to do?" Lia asked. She noticed that other students showed up while she and Regulus were talking.

"Er…" Regulus said, turning around to follow her gaze. Mitch walked forward blowing hard into a whistle.

"Everyone, line up!" he shouted. Lia followed Regulus' lead and lined up next to the Slytherin boys. Mitch walked down the line, looking each prospective player up and down. When he got to Lia, he looked annoyed. "_You're_ not supposed to be here," he sighed as if she were incredibly dense. "Spectators stay in the stands." Mitch pointed towards the bleachers as though she would have trouble finding them.

"I'm not a spectator," Lia said quietly.

"What?" Mitch yelled in her face.

"I'M NOT A SPECTATOR!" Lia yelled. Then in a normal voice she added, "I'm here to try out."

"Oh," said Mitch. He seemed at a loss of what to do. Either that or his face took on a glazed expression whenever he had to think about something. Instead of responding, he continued down the line.

Lia could hear the boys whispering about her, and she tried hard not to look over at them. She couldn't help glancing over at Regulus though. He was smiling slightly at something Chris—a seventh year Chaser—was saying; Lia caught his eye and he gave her a strained smile and a would-be-friendly wave. She felt her heart sink.

"Okay, everyone on brooms!" Mitch called out finally. He had never struck Lia as one to give extended speeches.

Once she was in the air, all of her anxieties vanished. This was where she was meant to be. They all did several drills, most of them involving passing and shooting at the goalposts. No one would pass to Lia. Not even Regulus. Lia was fuming.

Finally Regulus passed to her, after a good fifteen minutes. Knowing this might be her only opportunity, Lia snatched the Quaffle out of the air and expertly zigzagged around the defense, sailing the ball neatly through the goal hoop. Lia tried to hide her proud smile as she flew back in line. There was no way they could deny she was better than most the boys there. But what she really wanted to be was Seeker.

The drills continued, and Lia had to practically steal the ball from her teammates to get a shot. Once though, one of the boys trying out for Chaser—Lia was pretty sure his name was Chris—smiled at her and tossed her the Quaffle so she could shoot on goal. She missed that time, but every other shot she took, she made. Lia was beginning to think she might end up being a Chaser after all; but at least it was something.

When Mitch blew his whistle to end tryouts for the day, Lia landed lightly on the ground brimming with confidence and shining with sweat. Mitch read off a list of the people who could return for the second day of tryouts.

"Anderson, Andrews, Bach, Beecher, Beecher, Black, Caldwell…"

Wait! Where was Braulio? He skipped her name by mistake right? _Right?_

"…Turner, Williams," Mitch finished the list. "That's it. Everyone else, better luck next year."

"Lia, wait!" Regulus called after her. Lia didn't even bother responding; she just pulled her cloak more tightly around her shoulders and quickened her pace. She didn't want to see anybody right now, especially not Regulus. Not while she was crying. Why was she crying? Lia threw open the doors to the Castle and angrily wiped the tears away with the back of her hand. She was just angry, that was it. And she should be angry! It was completely unfair that she didn't make the team! She was way better than at least half those boys.

"Oomph!" Lia turned a corner and ran smack into someone.

"Sorry," she muttered, stumbling slightly from the impact.

"It's okay," he said, and held onto her arms to steady her. Lia looked up. It was Sirius. Her stomach tightened; she really didn't want to see him right now either. He already laughed at her enough as it was. "Lia? Hey! Are you alright?" He asked, his face going from surprise at seeing her to concern.

"I'm fine," she said, lowering her eyes. She could feel his eyes on her though, and his hands hadn't left her elbows. Lia pulled away slightly and he quickly lowered his hands.

"No you're not, you're crying!" Sirius said, laughing slightly. Lia looked up angrily, but was surprised to see that his face was filled with worry, not mirth. "What's wrong?" he asked gently.

She tried to explain that she hadn't made the Quidditch team just because she was a girl, and because Regulus hardly even passed to her at all even though he knew she was good, and because Vlad wouldn't leave her alone about trying out and now he wouldn't let her forget about it, and because she really, really wanted to play Quidditch. But all that came out was a blurted, "Everything!" And without thinking about it, she fell forward in tears and started sobbing on his shoulder. Sirius stiffened as if not sure what to do, then hesitantly wrapped his arms around her.

"It's okay," he muttered awkwardly. Lia knew that what she was doing was stupid and completely out of character. She told herself to step back and leave as quickly as possible, but her body refused to listen to her brain. She was sobbing uncontrollably and couldn't move. After awhile Lia began to calm down and she remembered suddenly whose shoulder she was crying on. Sirius was rubbing her back gently and rocking her back and forth as one would a baby. Lia tried, but she couldn't remember a time when she felt so out of place and embarrassed.

"Er…" she said, breaking away from him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to…" To what? Cry uncontrollably on his shoulder? Force him to soothe her like an infant for the past ten minutes?

"It's okay, don't worry about it," Sirius said, laughing uncomfortably. "You okay now?" he asked, lifting up her chin and wiping away the remaining tears on her face. She nodded, still too embarrassed to speak and too exhausted to take her eyes off him.

"I'd better go now," she forced out.

"Right," he said quickly, and backed away. "Well, next time watch where you're going, okay?"

"Okay," Lia said, and she left as quickly as possible.

* * *

"Hey," Regulus said with a strained smile as soon as she walked into the common room. 

"Hey," Lia responded reluctantly.

"You really should've made the team," he blurted out.

"Yeah, I should've," Lia agreed. "You know, you could've helped a little!"

"What're you talking about?" Regulus asked.

"I mean," Lia took a deep breath, "you could've passed to me every once in awhile or something."

"I _did_ pass to you!" Regulus objected.

"Yeah, _once_!"

"I thought…" Regulus began awkwardly. "I thought you didn't want me to…help you. I thought…Didn't you say you wanted to…do it on your own? Or something…?"

Lia thought about it. She didn't remember saying that, but she might have.

"If I'd known you wanted me to help you I would've," Regulus told her.

"Regulus why would I not—" Lia began, but he looked so guilty and genuinely confused that the words died in her throat.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I really screwed up, didn't I?" Lia nodded. Regulus gave her an awkward hug. "I could try talking to Mitch about it if you want," he suggested.

"No, that's okay," Lia said. "It wouldn't do any good." But it was really sweet of him to offer. Lia supposed she could forgive him, even if he _was_ an idiot.

* * *

James and Sirius laughed, and Peter turned bright red and stared down at his oatmeal. Sirius' smile evaporated when an owl thumped down next to him; or, more specifically, when he saw the letter tied to the owl's leg: the one with the black ribbon stamped onto it with the Black seal. His hands shook slightly as he picked it up. Surely his mother wasn't sending out the damn letters already! He already knew what was in it and he told himself to throw it away, and he watched as his fingers opened it. Sirius glanced over at James and found him preoccupied with his own mail; Peter was busy staring mournfully at his cereal which his bedraggled owl had crash-landed into; Remus was reading the _Daily Prophet_; no one was looking at Sirius.

He had barely gotten past the salutation (which didn't consist of "Dear Sirius") when a hand pushed down on the top of the letter, wrinkling it closed.

"Oi Prongs! Hoofs off the mail!" he snapped irritably. He looked up to glare at James, and was surprised to see Remus' concerned eyes staring back at him. "Is there something _wrong_ with reading my mail?!" Sirius asked crossly. Merlin! He hadn't even _read_ the letter and it had put him in a sour mood.

"Yes," Remus said flatly. "And since James is otherwise occupied…" James was holding up a dilapidated homemade sweater (knitting was not one of Mrs. Potter's strong-points). "…I feel obliged to suggest you just burn it and get on with your life." Remus always used large words when he was choosing them carefully. Sirius couldn't take that intense stare: not from Remus. The only time Sirius had seen that look in his eyes was when he was talking about his own dirty little secret.

"You don't even know what's in the letter," Sirius pointed out, trying to stay cross with his friend.

"You're right," Remus shrugged, "I don't." Sirius glared, no longer _trying_ to stay cross. "Nice ribbon, by the way." For a split second Sirius seriously considered pulling out his wand. But Remus never made comments like that.

"What's with you anyways?" Sirius demanded. "Is it that time of the month again?" As soon as he said it, he regretted the words. Remus dropped his gaze to hide his hurt eyes, but his face hardened.

"Burn the letter, Sirius," Remus said softly. Sirius considered it.

_To my renegade ex-son,_

The letter began

_I cannot imagine why I continue paying for your education, as it is unappreciated and will be completely wasted on you. However, as I have made this concession, I fully expect you to forward your grades to Grimmauld Place. Furthermore, as you know, your father's birthday is coming up. I don't know how many more birthdays he will have, so I suggest you buy him a present. Money is enclosed. As I am still your biological mother, I advise you to stop fraternizing with those mud-blood delinquent "friends" of yours and behave yourself. If you choose to act reasonably and to apologize to your father, brother and me you will be allowed home for the holidays._

_Mrs. Black_

Sirius folded the letter, stood up stiffly, and marched towards the dark doors of the Great Hall.

"Oi! Where're you going?" James called after him before he'd gone three steps.

"To start a bonfire," Sirius replied bitterly, not looking back. James stood up to follow him confusedly, but Remus pulled him back down and gave him a whispered explanation. Sirius fought to ignore his friends' stares boring through the back of his head as he made his way out of the hall. Damn it! Why did he have to get that bloody letter? Now they would act all sympathetic and careful all day! Sirius blew the doors open with his wand and stormed through them, not even stopping to wonder when he'd pulled his wand out. He turned a corner, not even seeing where he was going. Eventually he cooled down enough to lean against a wall and breathe deeply. He opened his eyes and glared down at the letter in his hand.

"_Ignito_," he said suddenly, slamming his wand into it. The parchment immediately ignited and curled into a blackened heap, burning out far too quickly for Sirius' liking.

"Mr. Black!" came a shrill voice from down the corridor. "What in Merlin's name possessed you to start a _fire_ in the _school_?!"

"It wasn't a very large fire," Sirius pointed out, feeling somewhat numb. "Sorry, Professor McGonagall," he added, looking down at his feet. "I know; you don't have to tell me: twenty points from Gryffindor and I'll see you in detention." He tried to give her his typical mischievously playful grin, but his heart wasn't in it.

"You…" McGonagall sputtered, thrown by his response or maybe by his pathetic attempt at a smile. Before she could get her voice back and take away more points, Sirius ducked around the corner and hurried on his way to nowhere in particular.

To his surprise, Sirius found himself back in front of the Great Hall. He saw Regulus standing there talking to Vlad and Lia, and for some reason his blood began to boil again. Maybe it was the black ribbon hanging out of his brother's bag.

"What d'you do, collect these?" Sirius demanded, snatching the letter out of Regulus's bag.

"Hey! What're you—"

"'Dear Regulus'," Sirius heard himself read aloud. "'How are you, dear? How's school?'" Regulus tried to snatch the letter back, but Sirius held it up out of his reach and read over his protestations. "'I was talking to Mr. Ashni the other day and he told me what a fine, upstanding young man you've become…' Do you really read this crap? '…When you come home this Christmas you should really consider—'" Regulus successfully grabbed the letter back. "Well wasn't that nice of her?"

"What the hell's your problem?" Regulus demanded angrily.

"Problem? _I_ don't have a problem," Sirius declared.

"You're acting like a real prick, you know that?"

"Am I?" Sirius asked in mock surprise. "Well fine! You can forget hanging out today then."

"Fine! Wait…what? Why?"

But Sirius had already turned and stormed off in the other direction.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Regulus didn't know why he was so upset. Well, he _did_ know, but he didn't want to admit that he was still angry with Sirius for blowing him off. Seriously though, why didn't his brother ever want to hang out with him? It wasn't as if Regulus wanted to be with Sirius all the time, but every once in awhile would be nice. Plus they had _planned_ to do something together today; it wasn't as if Regulus had sprung the idea on him suddenly. That stupid wanker James Potter was always pulling Sirius away to go do things too! And _then_ Sirius had come over to the Slytherin table at lunch, but did he do it to apologize to his brother? No! He did it to talk to bloody Lia! And why did Sirius want to talk to Lia anyways? Lia was a great person and Regulus loved hanging out with her, but since when did Sirius have any interest at all in talking to her? It was as if he was purposefully doing it to get back at Regulus for god-knows-what! Regulus was glad that his best friend and his brother liked to talk to each other, but not if it meant Sirius was talking to her _instead_ of Regulus. It just wasn't fair! What did Sirius have against him anyways? Was it simply because Regulus was the "favorite" at home? It wasn't like he _tried_ to be the favorite! Regulus would give it up in a heartbeat if he could, just so Sirius would come back home and stop hating him.

Regulus suddenly realized that his feet had automatically carried him outside. He looked around uncertainly; he knew he wasn't supposed to leave the castle at night, but who was going to catch him? If anyone caught him breaking this particular rule, it meant that they would be breaking it too. Besides, it was a stupid rule to begin with.

Regulus felt more relaxed outside. Aside from animals, the grounds were deserted at night; and Regulus always felt more comfortable alone. He walked around, going nowhere in particular, when suddenly he got the unnerving feeling that someone was watching him. Regulus tried to ignore the sensation, but it continued to build on him. He wasn't really frightened, at least not until he heard growling behind him. Heart beating a rapid rhythm against his ribs, Regulus turned slowly to face whatever was behind him.

For one dreadful moment he thought it was a wolf. But then reason crept back into his brain; it wasn't a wolf, it was just a dog. In fact, the dog looked strangely familiar. It looked up at him with intelligent eyes, no longer growling. Regulus suddenly realized that this was the same black dog that he sometimes found wandering the gardens at home. But what was it doing way out here? Regulus shook his head, then kneeled down in front of the animal.

"Hey, Scout," he said, using his pet name for the stray. The dog took a step back. Regulus knew that animals sometimes did that before setting up to pounce, so his heart began to race again. Very slowly, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wand. "_Accio biscuits_," he whispered. When the food arrived, Regulus held out a piece to the dog, who sniffed it, then licked it off Regulus' hand. Regulus relaxed, and sat down; this was definitely the same dog. "How did you get all the way out here?" Regulus asked it, putting the rest of the biscuits into his pocket. Scout tilted his head to the side and put a paw on Regulus' lap. Regulus grinned and fed him another biscuit. "I wanted to be alone, but I suppose I don't mind you being here," he added to the animal, which seemed to look curiously at Regulus. One of the reasons Regulus had continued to feed the stray through the years was its uncanny ability to simulate human facial expressions. Regulus sighed. "I think you're around the house more than Sirius is," he told the dog. Then he smiled sadly at it and patted it on the head. "Oh well, we don't need him, do we boy?" Scout shook Regulus' hand off his head and stared at him. Regulus sighed and gave him another biscuit; but the dog didn't eat it right away. "What's the matter, not hungry?" Regulus asked it. Almost reluctantly, Scout took the biscuit, but didn't take his eyes off Regulus. It really was an uncanny animal.

* * *

Remus had just finished his rounds and was unusually tired. Maybe it was just because he was dreading the thought of double potions the next day. He flopped into a chair by the fireplace (one of the advantages of being Head Boy was that one of the nice armchairs was always "magically" left empty for him) and opened up a book. At the moment he was reading a muggle book about witches. It was almost comical how wrong some of the ideas were, but others were unnervingly close to the mark. For instance, the witches grew fangs during the full moon; but the antagonist had minions that were almost exactly the description of dementors.

"Remus! There you are!" James said loudly, making Remus jump. "Where've you been?"

"I was doing my rounds," Remus told him, heart still beating a little fast from being snuck up on.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot you had to do those," James said. It was funny that he'd forgotten because when Remus was made a prefect in their fifth year, James had been incredibly jealous (although he pretended not to be) and had practically memorized Remus' schedule for rounds. The whole situation had amused Remus greatly because he wasn't used to being the object of envy, and he wasn't sure himself why James hadn't received the position. "So I guess Sirius wasn't with you then?"

"No," Remus said slowly. "Why?" He wasn't sure why, but James' tone of voice gave Remus a sense of impending doom. His friends were obviously up to something that was probably dangerous and definitely against the rules.

"I can't find him anywhere," James said.

"Did you check the kitchens?" Remus suggested, knowing Sirius' affinity for all things edible. He was almost as bad as Peter in that respect.

"Yes," James sighed melodramatically. "I've looked _everywhere_."

"Oh," said Remus, seeing where this was going. He really, _really_ didn't want to get up and go back out of the common room to search for Sirius, who was probably out pestering Filch or snogging some infatuated girl. "That's a shame. I'm sure he'll turn up eventually."

"Moony," James whined. "I don't know where he is! I've been looking for _hours_!" Remus was almost a hundred percent positive that this was an exaggeration. "I think he's lost."

"How could he get lost?" Remus asked irritably.

"What if he's trapped behind a statue or got kidnapped by centaurs or fell in the lake or—?" James ran on.

"I get the point," interrupted Remus before his friend could go on. "What d'you want me to do about it?" He regretted those last words.

"You're Head Boy," James said. "So _you_ can look for him outside."

"That's true," said Remus. "I _can_." James looked at him pleadingly. "Fine," he sighed finally. Remus couldn't help feeling that James was doing this on purpose to get him out of the way for some reason; but there was always the chance that Sirius really _was_ lost or kidnapped or drowning.

Remus grudgingly went up to their dormitory to grab his cloak and put his book back. He also was inwardly hoping to find Sirius there. Unfortunately, Sirius _wasn't_ in the dormitory so Remus still had to go look for him. Sighing, Remus trudged out of the common room and out of the castle, wondering why he was such a push-over. At first he was annoyed with Sirius for running off, but it started getting dark and Remus began to worry about his wayward friend. Hogwarts really was a dangerous place outside at night; Sirius really _could_ be in danger.

"Sirius!" hissed Remus. He began to walk faster, in spite of himself. After awhile his imagination started to get the better of him. What if Sirius had been doing something reckless and got attacked by some creature in the Forbidden Forest? He could be lying on the ground tied up and dying, and here Remus was irritated at him for wandering off! "Padfoot!" Remus yelled. "Where are you, you bloody beast!" Remus scanned the darkening grounds with his eyes, when suddenly he spotted Sirius. Remus didn't know whether to feel relief or anger at finding Sirius _in dog form_ being pet by some boy. He also felt incredibly stupid for worrying about Sirius. "Excuse me," Remus called, striding up to the boy. "But have you seen—"

"Sirius?" the boy finished for him. That hadn't been what Remus was going to say. The boy turned around to look and Remus, and the latter's heart skipped several beats. It was Regulus. "Sorry, I haven't seen him since he blew me off this morning." Remus' heart started beating again when he realized that Regulus had no idea that the dog sitting beside him was his own brother.

"Oh, well. He'll turn up eventually," Remus said, trying to think of a way to casually drag Sirius out of there. "Is that your dog?"

"Yes. Well…sort of…no, not really."

"Oh, I see," Remus said sarcastically, secretly wondering what on earth Regulus was on about.

"I've seen it prowling around my yard before," Regulus explained.

"Have you?" Remus' heart was racing. Why was it so difficult to keep the other boys from transfiguring themselves? It was as if they _wanted_ to get caught! Actually, sometimes Remus seriously wondered if they _did_…

"Yeah," Regulus said. "I have no idea how he could've possibly made it all the way out here." Remus wasn't quite sure if Regulus was messing with him, but the latter seemed to be genuinely ignorant of the dog's identity.

"Maybe it followed you," Remus suggested. Maybe Regulus would assume this idiotic suggestion was a joke.

"He."

"Pardon?"

"The dog's a boy," Regulus told him. Remus was still in disbelief that Regulus hadn't figured it out yet, so he just stood there staring at the Black brothers speechlessly. "I decided to call him 'Scout'." Remus was jarred out of his day-mares.

"Scout?" Remus repeated, trying not to laugh. He would have to make fun of Sirius for that one.

"It's a long story," Regulus said. "Well, actually it's not. He ate my book."

"He ate your book?!" Remus repeated, unsure how to react to this news. On one hand, how did Regulus get "Scout" from Sirius eating a book? But on the other hand, Sirius _ate a book_?! Regulus laughed.

"Well, actually it was Lia's book. She really named him," Regulus said. Sirius' ears perked up at the mention of Lia. "Apparently Scout was a character in the book or something…"

"Oh," Remus said, catching on. "_To Kill a Mockingbird_, right?"

"I beg your pardon?!" Regulus exclaimed in surprise.

"The book," Remus began.

"You use _books_ to _kill birds_?!"

"What? No! I—never mind!" Remus said. He wasn't here to discuss literature with Regulus. "By the way," he said, an idea suddenly occurring to him. "You shouldn't be out here this late anyways."

"Neither should you," Regulus pointed out. Even in the dim light Remus could see him turn red. "Er…I was doing my…rounds," Regulus said lamely. Remus grinned.

"It's okay; I'm not gonna report you. Just go to bed," he said. Regulus nodded and scrambled to his feet. "Regulus?" Remus asked suddenly, another idea occurring to him. He'd been bugging Sirius to talk to Regulus about it, and now seemed like the perfect opportunity to initiate the conversation. "Does it bother you much when Sirius blows you off?" The large black dog next to Remus started growling at him. Remus ignored him. Regulus ran fingers through his hair.

"No! Why?"

"Earlier you said something about—"

"Oh," Regulus interrupted quickly. "No, it doesn't bother me. Why would it? He can do whatever the hell he wants for all I care!" He sounded very upset. Sirius barked at him. "Oh. Right," Regulus said, adopting a softer tone; and he pulled several biscuits out of his pocket and fed them to the dog. The scene struck Remus as very ironic. "Sometimes," Regulus said quietly in an odd sort of voice, "I think that this dog cares more about me than my own brother does. And Scout only hangs around for the biscuits." Regulus shook his head, "Don't tell him I said that."

"Sure thing," Remus said. He didn't know what to make of that. Sirius whined a little and nudged Regulus' hand with his nose. To Remus' horror, Sirius even started following Regulus back toward the castle. Remus whistled loudly. "Er…Scout, come here," he said, feeling incredibly stupid, clapping his hands, and turning bright red. Regulus looked confused.

"What are you—?"

"He's…my dog," Remus said, using the too-well-worn excuse. A split second later he realized how idiotic that sounded.

"Then why did you ask me if it was mine?" Regulus asked.

"Er…that's a good question," Remus laughed nervously. This was horrible.

"…I guess that would explain what he's doing here," Regulus said slowly, still looking very confused. "But I thought dogs weren't allowed—"

"They're not!" Remus said, finding his opening. "So please don't tell anyone about him!" Regulus grinned.

"So that's why you pretended he wasn't yours?" Regulus asked. The nice thing about deceiving people was that they usually invented their own excuses for the liar's unusual behavior. "I never thought I'd see _you_ breaking the rules. Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." Remus smiled, feeling very relieved.

"Brilliant. Thanks, Reggie. You're a pal," Remus said. Regulus frowned.

"What's his real name?" Regulus asked as Remus pulled the dog away.

"Er…Scout," Remus said, unable to think of a better name. Sirius barked at him.

"Really?"

"Yes…funny, huh?" Remus said, walking hastily away before Regulus could ask another question. "G'night, Regulus."

"'Night, Remus," Regulus called, obviously disappointed for some reason. "Hey, I have some more biscuits if Scout wants them." Sirius stopped walking and turned his head at the word "biscuits". Sometimes when in animal form, the Marauders—especially Sirius—were affected by the animal instincts. In this case, the instinct was an abnormal desire for food.

"Don't even!" Remus hissed at him. Sirius continued to wag his tail at Regulus. "Try to resist the temptation, Padfoot. Remember," Remus said, grinning at the dog. "'This heart is where you truly lie', Sirius." Sirius growled and pounced, knocking over a laughing Remus. Remus had been waiting for an opportunity to make fun of Sirius for that particular line which the latter used at least once a month—even though it had absolutely no effect on Remus whatsoever. Sirius thought it did though, and Remus had learned that both of the Black boys hated feeling helpless about anything. So Remus didn't laugh at Sirius about it _too_ often.

"You're an asshole, you know that?" Sirius said, turning suddenly into a human.

"_I_ am?" Remus asked. Now that they could actually hold a conversation it was time to be serious.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" Sirius demanded angrily.

"Regulus," Remus said. "I _told_ you that you shouldn't ditch him like that!"

"Oh, come off it, Remus," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "He even _said_ he didn't care!"

"Yes, but he also said that a _dog_ cared more about him than—"

"A dog that _happens_ to be _me_!" Sirius pointed out.

"Yes, but Regulus doesn't know that," Remus reminded him. Sirius bit his lip. Remus suddenly realized that he had missed the signs of concern on Sirius' face throughout the conversation.

"Fine! If it'll make you happy I'll hang out with the little bugger tomorrow!" Sirius said as if he was doing Remus a huge favor.

"Yes," Remus smiled. "That would please me very much, Sirius." Remus could never understand why Sirius didn't just _say_ what it was that he wanted. Or maybe, Remus realized, Sirius didn't _know_ what he wanted. But, no, that couldn't be true; the only Marauder who wasn't completely sure of himself was Remus…except perhaps, for Peter. Remus grinned; somehow, by simply observing situations and explaining them to people he could fix their problems…he should start doing that more often. He and Sirius walked into the school, only to come face-to-face with Filch, who had a tight grip on Peter's arm.

"What are _you_ doing out so late?" Filch demanded, glaring at them. Peter was looking at them pleadingly, but Remus felt that there was very little he could do for him.

"I was doing my rounds," Remus said. "You know, since I'm Head Boy. And I happened to see Sirius out the window. He was, er, a few minutes late coming in, and since the doors lock automatically after a certain time…Anyways, I had to go out and get him." Filch looked as though he bought it but was searching for another excuse to give them detention. "Oh, and by the way," Remus added, pulling a stuffed envelope out of his pocket and handing it to Filch. "I saw that you dropped this earlier today." Filch turned red and stuffed the envelope quickly in his pocket.

"You didn't read it?" he asked suspiciously, glaring at Remus.

"Of course not," Remus lied convincingly. "I never read other people's mail. Why do you ask?" Filch didn't respond; he simply gave Remus a final glare and marched away with Peter still in tow. Filch really had dropped the envelope, but it was awhile ago and Remus had been saving it for a moment like this one. It contained a letter for a Kwikspell Course of Beginners Magic, which Filch would no doubt want to keep secret; Remus had gathered that being a squib was extremely embarrassing.

"What was _that_ all about?" Sirius asked, still gaping. Remus shrugged uncomfortably.

"Nothing," he said. "Just don't make me cover for you again."

"Cover for me? You were covering for yourself!" Sirius pointed out.

"Is he gone?" a voice whispered before Remus could respond.

"Yeah, he's gone," Sirius assured the disembodied voice.

"Were you in on this too?" Remus asked Sirius angrily, ignoring James, the disembodied voice.

"In on what?" asked Sirius, putting on a look of innocence.

"On whatever James and Peter were doing that they tricked me into leaving so they could do!" Remus said, hoping he got the point across despite his confusing sentence.

"Of _course_ not!" Sirius said, unable to hide his grin. Remus rolled his eyes and pretended to still be mad at them.

"You don't have to try to hide these things from me, you know," Remus added to the blank space that the voice had come from and that he assumed James still occupied.

"What d'ya mean?" James asked from under his invisibility cloak.

"I can help you get away with these things if you let me in on them," Remus said. Breaking rules made him uncomfortable, but not as uncomfortable as being left out made him.

"Normally, yes. But we didn't think you'd…_approve_ of this particular prank," Sirius said, betraying his involvement.

"Why's that?"

"Doesn't matter," James said quickly. "It didn't work anyway."

* * *

Regulus wasn't in a big hurry to get back to the common room. He wasn't sure why, but lately he'd been feeling an unusual sense of apathy towards the rules. Maybe he was just bored. Wandering down the corridors, Regulus suddenly had the bright idea of visiting the potions room. Professor Slughorn had mentioned something about Lily Evans spending her Thursdays there for some extra practice... not that she needed it. Regulus debated whether or not to summon his cauldron, but he decided against it; there were always spares in the dungeons. Normally he never would have considered purposefully setting up an accidental meeting with Lily Evans, but she had seemed to want to talk to him last time they ran into each other.

So that was how Regulus found himself alone in the potions room fifteen minutes later, chopping up wickerweed. He didn't have any trouble keeping his hands steady because Regulus Black was never clumsy when it came to potions making; but his heart was beating wildly. Lily wasn't there yet, and Regulus couldn't stop himself from glancing periodically at the door. Then at last Lily walked inside! Her glittering green eyes swept the room automatically, landing her gaze on the only other occupant.

"Hey, Regulus," she said brightly, sitting down a few tables over. "Back again?"

"Yeah," Regulus said, trying to remember what he had practiced saying. He failed at that. "You too," he added lamely. Lily smiled, then proceeded to set up her own cauldron. Regulus furtively uncorked his bottle of pepsite and poured a few drops into his potion; this was a trick he'd learned from Lia. There was a loud bang, causing Lily to jump. She spun around and stared at him in surprise.

"What _happened_?!" she asked.

"I dunno," he said, looking bewildered; something else he'd learned from Lia. Lily relaxed and smiled at him, turning Regulus' heart into an acrobat.

"What are you making anyway?" she asked.

"Right now I'm making noxide," Regulus told her. "But it's just one of the ingredients for veritaserum."

"Veritaserum? Really?" Lily asked, appearing fascinated. "That's a really complex potion."

"I know," said Regulus. "D'you wanna help?" His fingers were crossed under the table, and his heart was beating so fast that at any moment he was sure to go into cardiac arrest.

"Really?!" Lily chirped. "I'd _love_ to! Only if that's okay with you?"

"Okay?!" Regulus exclaimed. "It's—yeah, I guess it's okay." He had to remember to not sound so enthusiastic.

"Great!" Lily laughed. She shoved her books haphazardly into her bag in order to drag them over to Regulus' table.

"Here, let me help you with that," Regulus said, taking the books from her as they threatened to topple out of her arms. Their arms brushed and Regulus felt a tingling sensation shoot through him, threatening to knock _him_ over.

"Thanks," Lily said, smiling warmly at him. Regulus' heart flipped for joy, even though the rest of him wouldn't dare to. He tried to smile back at her, but his legs were shaking so much it was distracting. Regulus quickly set the books down on his desk and sat down before he collapsed with nerves. Lily was staring curiously at him. "Are you alright?"

"Fine!" Regulus said a bit too loudly. Lily smiled awkwardly and sat down next to him. Damn! What had he done now? For awhile there was silence between them besides the necessary questions and answers of potion-making.

"So…do you play Quidditch?" Lily asked, breaking the awkward pseudo-silence.

"Yes, actually," said Regulus, trying to calm his nerves by imagining himself talking to a person and not a goddess. "I'm a chaser."

"Oh, really?" Lily said.

"You sound surprised," Regulus commented dryly. He wanted to kick himself for saying that, but it didn't seem appropriate at the moment, so he just blushed. Lily smiled encouragingly at him though. She must have thought of him as a little kid!

"No, just…that's very cool," she said. Regulus' heart leapt in spite of himself. She sounded sincere!

"Really?" he asked. "I mean…yeah, I know." Damn! That sounded so egotistical. He ran fingers through his hair. Lily tried not to smile and bowed her head over her work; she was obviously laughing at him for sounding like such an idiot. Whether or not that was the case, it was now Regulus' turn to start a conversation. Not surprisingly, he couldn't think of anything to say. The only thing that came to mind was a corny pick-up line, and to his horror, that was what Regulus heard leaving his mouth. "So…do you come here often?" Lily laughed. Regulus didn't know whether to smile or run away and hide.

"You're really funny, d'you know that?" Lily said, smiling honey at him. Regulus grinned, but couldn't stop his face from reddening. Lily cleared her throat and turned slightly pink herself. "Do I add two teaspoons of drontix or three?" she asked. Regulus checked the directions.

"Neither. Four," he told her.

"Oh. My bad," she said, adding the correct amount. Her eyes were like emeralds perfectly highlighted by her fiery hair; and her smile was like the sun. After awhile, Regulus realized that he was staring. He quickly shifted his eyes back to the ingredients. "What made you decide to make veritaserum?" Lily asked. Regulus was thrown by the question.

"I dunno," he said. "I just…wanted to see if I could do it…and I've always wondered what it was like to drink veritaserum." Plus it was the most difficult potion he could think of and he really wanted an excuse to spend a few hours alone with Lily Evans…of course he didn't tell her that.

"Really?" Lily asked. "I thought I was the only person in the world who wanted to try drinking veritaserum!" Regulus grinned at her, but inwardly he was gaping. He'd thought _he_ was the only one who felt that way. Lily was just an all-around amazing girl.

"So then," Regulus said, working up his last bit of nerve. "Do you wanna help me finish it?"

"I was planning on it," she said, winking at him. Should he not have asked that? "When did you want to meet again?" Lily asked. Regulus shrugged, still in disbelief that she actually agreed to continue meeting him.

"How about two weeks from today?" he suggested. Lily shook her head, causing her crimson hair to flutter around her head.

"Three weeks. We have to wait for the noxide to finish boiling," Lily pointed out. Regulus had forgotten about that.

"Right. Great. Three weeks from today then," Regulus said.

"Wonderful!" said Lily, writing it down. "It's a date!" Really?! Then, realizing what she'd said, Lily turned bright red. "Er, you know what I mean." Damn! For a moment there Regulus had felt on top of the world. He laughed nervously and ran fingers through his hair.

"I guess I'll see you then, then," he said. Damn! He'd said "then" twice!

"Okay," Lily said, smiling at him and picking up her bag to leave. "This was fun, Regulus," she added just before she walked out the door. A part of Regulus was very glad she left when she did because those last words had stunned him into blissful speechlessness. Lily had _fun_ with _him_?! This was wonderful! If Regulus knew how to skip he might have right there…well, probably not. But this was still brilliant! He would see her again in three weeks! And maybe—just maybe—he would be lucky enough that they could start meeting regularly…not that he was getting his hopes up.

* * *

"Hey, Reggie!" Sirius said brightly the next morning at breakfast. Regulus tried to not grind his teeth at that infernal baby-name. "Wanna go play some Quidditch?" Absolutely! More than anything! But he didn't want to sound too desperate, and he was still angry with Sirius for blowing him off the day before.

"I'm busy right now," Regulus said darkly.

"Oh." Sirius' face fell. Wow! He must have really wanted to hang out with Regulus then.

"Well, alright," Regulus sighed dramatically. "If you _really_ want to. But wait until I finish breakfast."

"Eat fast then," Sirius said, grinning and tossing a Quaffle from one hand to the other.

"Hey, Padfoot!" said James, walking over. "Let's go!"

"What?"

"We were gonna go do _that thing_ to Filch for giving Peter detention… Remember?" James reminded him, hinting at some no-doubt foolhardy scheme that they'd concocted. Regulus' heart sank when he saw his brother's face light up at the reminder.

"Oh, yeah," Sirius said. He turned to Regulus guiltily and asked, "Hey, Regulus…I sort of already promised James I'd help him out with…something. So would it be okay if maybe—?"

"Fine," Regulus snapped, biting off the word. Sirius was about to turn and follow James, but he hesitated and looked back at Regulus with indecision scrawled across his face.

"Hey, Prongs," he called, jogging up to James. He said something inaudible to his friend, who seemed to dislike whatever it was that Sirius was saying. Finally, James through up his hands in a "forget you!" kind of way, and Sirius sauntered back over to Regulus.

"Hey," Regulus said, a bit confused. "What are you—?"

"I told him I was gonna play Quidditch with you instead," Sirius told him. Really?! Was this some kind of joke? Regulus was at a loss for words, so he glanced over at Lia for some sort of confirmation or something. She nodded encouragingly to Regulus and gave Sirius a warm, grateful smile, which he returned with interest. Excitement bubbling inside him, Regulus shoved a last few spoonfuls of porridge into his mouth and drained his orange juice.

"Okay, I'm ready," he said.

"Great," said Sirius, standing up and grinning at him. Regulus felt a little bad because he could tell Sirius really wanted to be with his friends, but not bad enough to suggest that Sirius do so.

It was a Sunday, so the Quidditch pitch was naturally occupied, but Regulus and Sirius managed to snag one of the six goals for themselves. They were playing one-on-one, but not particularly competitively at first. More than anything it was a time to really catch up for the first time since Sirius left home that summer. It was probably one of the longest stretches of time the two brothers had been apart, which was strange since it was only October; but Regulus was pretty sure they used to spend more time together at school.

"Oh! Beat that!" Sirius exclaimed, getting past Regulus and slamming the Quaffle through the ring. Regulus smiled and caught the ball as it dropped. "I just realized something," Sirius said, blocking one of Regulus' shots. Instead of catching the Quaffle, he merely blocked it, which could mean a number of things. Sirius may have simply wanted to keep the game low-key; or he may have been so used to his position as beater that he automatically hit the ball; but Regulus suspected that it was because Sirius didn't think Regulus could beat him unless he played easy. It was frustrating that Sirius felt this way, but it was even more frustrating that his assumption was probably right. Chaser was Regulus' position on the team, and Sirius was _still_ better at it!

"What's that?" Regulus asked, trying not to breathe harder as he flew in random zigzags trying to get around his older brother.

"We haven't really hung out since August, have we?" Sirius said, diving to block the shot. Regulus was pleased to hear Sirius also starting to breathe more heavily.

"No, I don't think we have," Regulus said, swinging the Quaffle up under-handed and underneath Sirius' outstretched arm. Thankfully it finally went in.

"Nice shot!" Sirius commented, sounding genuinely—if mildly—impressed.

"Thanks," Regulus said, flying over to catch the Quaffle before it went too far.

"Hey, d'you wanna take a break?" Sirius asked.

"I'm fine," Regulus lied. "But we can if you want to." He was glad that Sirius suggested it. Not that Regulus was particularly tired, but it was a little more exertion than he liked on his day off. They both flew down and sat next to each other on the bleachers, watching the other students fly around above them.

"It's weird watching from down here," commented Sirius after awhile. Regulus nodded.

"Thanks for hanging with me instead of with your friends," Regulus said. Sirius looked over at him.

"Don't worry about it. This was fun. We should do it more often," he said. Regulus smiled. They both knew that by "more often" Sirius meant "once or twice more this year, if that"; but Regulus was still glad that he said it.

"What are they doing to Filch anyways?" asked Regulus. Sirius grinned mischievously at him.

"That's classified information," he said. "If I told you, then I'd have to kill you." Regulus grinned.

"Not if I kill you first."

"Is that a challenge?" Sirius grinned, pushing Regulus off his seat. Regulus lunged back at him, knocking him to the ground. The pseudo-fight ended a few minutes later when Sirius won by holding Regulus upside down by his ankles.

"I give!" Regulus gasped finally, out of breath more from laughing than anything else. Chuckling, Sirius put him down.

"You cannot defeat the master!" Sirius declared, only half in jest.

"One day," Regulus said, still grinning and sitting back on the bleacher next to Sirius.

"You just keep telling yourself that," Sirius laughed. Regulus continued to grin, but inside a nerve was being tugged at. He knew it was all just joking and banter, but when it came down to it, what Sirius said had an awful lot of truth in it. It was okay for someone who was bad at something to joke about being the best, but when someone really was better, constantly being reminded of it was rather trying. Still though, Regulus wouldn't have traded any of it in. "It must be getting to lunch time," Sirius commented. "D'you wanna go in and see?"

"Sure," said Regulus. The "quality time" was over, but that was okay; it had been a few hours probably. As it turned out, it _wasn't_ lunch time, but they split up anyways. Regulus strolled down to the Slytherin common room in an excellent mood. Between the previous night and that morning, he was having a pretty good week so far.


End file.
